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by djloche 3949 days ago
I wish USAA would open their net a little bit to extended families. My brother is a doctor in the US Navy, but that supposedly wasn't 'close' enough of a family relation for me to qualify to do business with them.
2 comments

Navy Federal CU is also very good, it may be worth checking their membership requirements.
Navy Federal CU and Pentagon Federal CU are both awesome and it's a $25 membership in an affiliated charity to get a membership.

The really elite one to get would be Tower Federal CU (the NSA's credit union); there is an affiliated nonprofit, which I joined, but then when I applied to open an account, I was declined. Oh well.

Why do you think it should be?
I guess the counter question is why is USAA only available to military members?
Basically a values thing that they are dedicated to military personnel and their families. Some of their products are open to everyone (IIRC), but most are limited to military, spouses, and immediate family.

From Wikipedia:

USAA was founded in 1922 by a group of U.S. Army officers to self-insure one another when they were unable to secure auto insurance because of the perception that they, as military officers, were a high-risk group.

USAA isn't a bank, it's a credit union. It's "field of membership" is uniformed military and their families.
Actually, USAA is a bank. At least the bank part of them is a bank. They're also an insurance company, an investment company, and a few other things. But the banking part is a bank.

From their site's front page: USAA means United Services Automobile Association and its insurance, banking, investment and other companies. Banks Member FDIC. https://www.usaa.com

Notice the FDIC. Credit unions are not insured via FDIC, they use NCUA. http://www.gobankingrates.com/banking/fdic-versus-ncua-insur...

Can anyone recommend a credit union as good as USAA that accepts people unaffiliated with the military?
Online banks like Capital One 360 don't charge overdraft fees and have fast check settlement. I can't comment on transaction ordering or anything - also, it might be hard to find an ATM that will do cash deposits.

And not only is there no account fee, but the checking account pays a pitiable amount of interest.

It's a very low risk group of people compared to the general populace.
USAA provides unrivaled quality customer service. I would love to be their customer primarily for that reason.