USAA membership expanded

[jwight]

From the CEO of USAA:

I am very pleased to let you know that eligibility for membership is now open to anyone who has ever served honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Our mission states "USAA seeks to be the provider of choice for the military community." Not just the officer community. Not just military retirees. Not just those who served after 1995. We are carefully and responsibly managing USAA's growth, and have taken incremental steps in expanding membership eligibility to bring us to this point. We wanted to be very sure that USAA has the capital, the operational capacity and the capability to precisely underwrite and price for risk at the individual level.

www.usaa.com

[forestacademy]

Love them.
I maried into USAA
Just wish they would insure my farmet

[pmolink]

I've been a USAA customer since 1977.

Back when it was military officers only, USAA had a very family-like corporate culture... the prices were the lowest on the market by far and the service was much better.

Over the years, as the eligibility tent has been enlarged, the prices are up and the service is down.

Here's an example: After we evacuated New Orleans for Katrina, we could not legally re-enter our neighborhood for over a month because of Martial Law. I filed a claim against our "Loss of Use" policy on our home. USAA denied the claim because they ruled that our house was inhabitable. It didn't matter to them that I wasn't allowed to habitate it.

"Back in the day," they would have paid a claim like that without blinking. USAA has just become another big insurance monster. You can tell that just by looking at their "campus" here in San Antonio. It is one of the largest office buildings in the world.