The reason that you cannot use Deposit@Home is that you are not eligible for USAA. The eligibility guidelines for the bank are now the same as insurance with USAA. Since you established the bank accounts with USAA prior to the eligibility guidelines changing, you are able to keep them, however your lack of true USAA eligibility (military or parents that are USAA eligible) is preventing you from using Deposit@Home.

Truth be told, eligible members don’t have to have an active insurance policy to use Deposit@Home, they just need to be eligible USAA members that can also qualify for any one credit product with USAA (credit card, auto loan, anything).

I apologize for your inconvenience, but as you pointed out USAA does provide you with postage-paid envelopes to mail your deposits in, plus having direct deposit for your income is always free. Also, if you deposit your funds at a local bank you can transfer them for free on usaa.com and in most cases the transfer is credited to your account immediately.

PS- I’ve been a USAA member for over 10 years, but have not served in the military. This is why I don’t even have an option of purchasing insurance through USAA, which I would like to do if they’d allow me (that also assumes their rate are competitive with Allstate).

I have my retirement accounts spread throughout Ameritrade, AmeritradePLUS, and Fidelity, because USAA charges a ridiculous amount for mutual fund transaction fees. I also have life insurance policies through Northwestern Mutual. I’d love to be able to combine all my financial/insurance products with them, but they are only “the best” on certain products and on others, they ONLY offer those products to active miltary, or their immediate families.

They bank is in San Antonio, TX and I live in Cincinnati, OH and cannot use the service. Therefore, the bank would rather pay $ .39 for each post paid envelope that I need to use to mail them a deposit rather than make the service available to everyone with a USAA number.

I’ve complained about this to them, and they’re always very concerned with customer satisfaction, but I really just want a “sane” explanation for WHAT in the WORLD ‘insurance’ has to do with the method at which they offer me to make a deposit. I’m really struggling to draw the relationship. I know companies makes some TOTALLY STUPID decisions sometimes…

… but this one TAKES THE CAKE!

Yes, you can use your own scanner (no special equipment needed).

No, the paper document does not need to be sent to the bank or anything like that. After the Deposit@Home software on the website accepts the scanned image, you are instructed to destroy the check.

There aren’t any third-party vendors involved. Software on USAA’s website (http://www.usaa.com) walks the user through the process of scanning the front and the back of the check and gives immediate confirmation once it is scanned. The deposit is (in most cases) immediately added to the bank account as available funds.

As far as security, USAA has the best possible security on the internet and I have never heard of any past security breeches, although evey bank these days has to deal with some type of security threat.

Lorraine, you are concerned about what someone would do with the check after it’s scanned and deposited, and I would say that this is a valid concern. Our customers are instructed to destroy the check immediately but I acknowledge that some may just get tossed in the trash. I would argue that USAA’s adoption of Deposit@Home does not really make you any less secure. Anyone you write a check to (merchant, individual, etc) has ample opportunity to lose your check, leave it out in the open, write down your accounts numbers for fraudulent use, etc… so there are always risks present in the use of paper checks. My advice to you: don’t write a check to anyone that you don’t trust. Regardless of that individuals use or non-use of USAA’s Deposit@Home service, you are trusting that individual or merchant to safe-guard your personal information. Maybe choose another form of payment. I personally never write checks at yard sales for this reason. And with the ease of CheckCards, why write checks at all?

As a plug for USAA Banking, and a good segue to another topic, USAA Bank customers can also pay anyone in the world using USAA’s Web BillPay option which is also a free service. In addition to that, if there are external accounts (other banks or credit unions) that a USAA bank customer needs to transfer funds to or from on a regular basis, this can also be done for free on USAA’s website. So again, why write checks?

I am an employee and a member of USAA and I will check back to see if I can answer questions. I don’t personally work in the Banking division of USAA, but I should still be able to answer questions.

So, where is the accountability to the owner of the checking account from which the check was issued? Who will guarantee the privacy and protection of idenity and account information? I truly hope they have a solution for this very serious flaw in their new “service”, which I believe to be more of a “disservice” to the customer. We have to keep clearly in our minds that sometimes the cost of ‘convenience’ is too high, and not really convenient at all. I will now be very cautious as to whom I will issue one of my checks!

I love USAA (banking, insurance, and investments), and this makes an already great experience even better.

“USAAs setup allows you to use your own scanner (if you don’t have one, they’ll give you a gift certificate to purchase one).”

Is this true? I already have a checking account with your bank, but don’t have a scanner.

Thank you for any information you can provide.