Most recent fine imposed against USAA Fed Savings Bank:

WASHINGTON—The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) today announced that it has assessed a $140 million civil money penalty against USAA Federal Savings Bank (USAA FSB) for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and its implementing regulations

https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-announces-140-million-civil-money-penalty-against-usaa-federal-savings#:~:text=WASHINGTON%E2%80%94The%20Financial %20Crimes%20Enforcement,BSA)%20and%20its%20impleme nting%20regulations.


And the other fine:

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/10/21/usaa-bank-fined-85-million-federal-regulators-violations-of-law.html

I work with 5 banks: one local and two regionals for personal and business, plus Amex Bank and Marcus for high yield savings and CDs. The smaller the bank the better customer service I get. Amex and Marcus offer 0 customer service.

Eeek!

My wife runs the USAA acounts - yeah, that's it...I'll have a chat with her when she gets home:D

Yeah, well I'm still with them. Honestly I don't know why though. Its just easier to stay put vice shop around; DITTO for their insurance. They say the two entities are separate but no way this isn't impacting (adversely) our insurance rates.

I do hear good things about Navy FCU and have had good experience with PenFed as well.

I do work for a whole bunch of credit unions in WA state. In general, they are great. But as someone said, not all are created equal.

Some of the largest can operate similar to the large nationwide banks. And some of the smallest can be so mismanaged that I wouldn't risk my money there.

I'd recommend a mid-sized local CU that has been in existence for at least 20 years (that number is based on a couple of factors that I won't bother to go into - but it's not random).

There are regular mergers and acquisitions of credit unions and you want to be in one that is the surviving entity of a merger, or one that is an acquiring credit union - which would indicate strong management and sustainable growth. The ones that get gobbled up in acquisitions are often on the ropes or poorly managed.

You can research a local credit union here: https://mapping.ncua.gov/ResearchCreditUnion

When I was a youngster at home in the late 50's...my parents gave me an allowance each week that I deposited to my savings account at our local bank.
When getting ready for college, I went to withdraw the approx $50 that had built up.

The bank teller informed me that it was all gone...due to fees for not enough activity in the account.
Those were the days of the small bank book that was stamped for deposits and withdrawals and they said it would have shown the fee charges if I would have come in for cash or deposit.

I was so upset that I never went to a bank again.

Yeah. Discrimination against the poor. BTDT. That would be a good candidate for a Bill.

Been at a cu for 30 years. They have a kids account and the kids would deposit at least $5 and the cu would match it. There is a limit, both age and monetary of course, but our son saved up enough to get an r/c b17in 6 months when he wss 7 or 8.

I work for a very large US based bank, and I have accounts there. Happy with them, but I also bank with Huntington.

I’ve been doing some research and I’m going to get out of both the USAA banking and insurance side. If they can afford to pay $85 million in penalties you have to wonder where the money is coming from. Well, I know where it’s coming from, our insurance premiums. I’ve stayed with them this long because I haven’t wanted to go through the hassle of going somewhere else.

I was with USAA for insurance for years. I changed when the price increases were large, and I had no claims. I am with ANAPAC now.

You're former mil, aren't you, Tobra? Check out USAA. I've been with them well over 20 years...insurance and banking.

Looks like I should have read page 2 before posting...lol.

Maybe it's time to shop around for insurance...been years since I looked at other companies and none came close to the rates I got with USAA.

I'm going to ask an honest dumbarse question-
Ok. so- local credit unions have some plusses.

That said, is there any benefit to hanging onto a big POS bank for the idea of "too big to fail"?

I have used all 3 for years

Credit Union: Best customer service

Small Local Bank: Very close to CU if not the same

BoA: the only bad thing I can say about BoA is they have very long lines with only 1 or maybe 2 tellers. CU and small bank are miniscule compared to BoA but have more tellers. I have Karen'ed about it.

I'm sure it was taken very seriously at the top.

Small bank, I once sent out a glowing email to three people I was working with, particularly about one person. One of the other two sent it to corporate and the president of the frickin bank emailed me and then called me talk with me more about my experience. Ended up doing a video interview that was shown at their annual board meeting.

Writing positive notes about businesses I interact with is one of the small joys in my life. Amazing the results sometimes.

Ok, I'll be the outlier and recommend a big bank: Chase.

There's a chase branch near me in a classic modern building from the early 60s. It has a cool 60's fountain in front, and a giant sequoia tree, and parking.

I originally went in and opened an account because I had white hot anger for bank of america, and at the time the bank was a washington mutual. My experience there was terrific, the bank gave me any guff at all I'd go in and talk to a person and it was figured out.

Washington Mutual went broke and got boughted by Chase and... my experience is still awesome at that branch.

Mostly I do my banking online but I have a butch lady there thats 'my banker'. There's stuff that banks find hard, like moving stock 'in kind', or whatever. I talk to her, then start the process, and then she shepherds the mechanics through their system and calls me when its done.

One time I had trouble validating a transfer to a different bank, I followed their process and it dint work. So I drove to the branch and sat drinking their coffee and looking at the fountain under the sequoia while some other guy called the mothership and got it working.

Wife had the kid's bank accounts at usaa, kept defending it for their whole lives. Man... if you wanted to make someone hate a bank... anyway they're adults now, I opened accounts for them and now they've got a person too. No fees, business accounts, etc. Its ridiculously good.

Every year or so they ask to manage my money or something and I decline.

And bank of america... I still have my first bank account with them, I have an ira there, and they give me a really good credit card but... I seriously think the people there are developmentally disabled. Its a good credit card so I put up with it but man oh man is that a broken bank. Total clown show. Like... go in to ask a question, they have a phone in the front and you call corporate on their damn phone. And corporate has no clue. Thats a seriously unhealthy environment, peter principal to the max.

I got a call a few days ago from a new person
at my bank branch, wanting to reach out
and introduce herself.
She asked me if I was satisfied with the
giant bank she works for.

I said, "do you really want to know?"
She said of course.

So I told her that her bank is paying 6/10ths of
one percent interest on "preferred" savings accounts
While others are closer to 4.5%
And on one of my small accounts,
they recently started charging me $25 per month
because the balance fell below $10k.

I then explained that in the past 2 months
I have moved seven figures OUT of accounts at
that bank and the only reason I still have $30k
there is because my wife has had that account
for 30 years and it's like a security blanket that
she isn't ready to give up yet.
But soon.

She said I should make an appointment to come
see her at the bank to straighten it out.
I said why should I come down there to fix
things your bank screwed up?

so to answer the OPs question, No. I don't think so.

I used to work for one that evolved into one deemed "too big to fail" (after I left) .... but it did :(.

And that was my 2nd rodeo ... my first was a Pacman bank when banking was deregulated and all both did for years was buy smaller (sometimes larger) banks and grow, grow, grow ..... and those smaller entities were often "better" in every way (for their customers). One is half of WF now and the other a huge chunk of BOA.

I am NOT a banker ... nor do I need one ... CU later :)

Don't keep more than $250K in whatever you opt for and sleep well .... FDIC.

Banks of all sizes can fail....

We do our daily banking with B of A. I have no complaints. Bill pay works fine and branches are numerous. Don’t keep much there because they pay bupkas for interest. Marcus for CD’s and hi interest savings is also good. It’s an on-line bank and their app and reporting work very well. Can’t expect much more from a on-line bank. Same with UFB Direct but their app isn’t as user friendly as Marcus.

I've been with BoA ever since they took over my local bank United Jersey. That was back in the mid 90's. It has indeed changed alot. Back before the takeover the tellers and FAs knew me by name. I could walk in at 10 AM and walk out with a personal loan by 11 AM.

Now, there is never more than one teller on duty even if there is a long queue and there is always some fat azz sitting around doing nothing. I stay with them because there is literally no other bank in town and the nearest CU is about 20 miles away.