USAA - insurance companies

The United Services Automobile Association (USAA) is a Texas-based Fortune 500 diversified financial services group of companies including a Texas Department of Insurance regulated reciprocal inter-insurance exchange and subsidiaries offering banking, investing, and insurance to people and families that serve, or served, in the United States military. At the end of 2015, there were 11.4 million members.USAA was founded in 1922 by a group of U.S. Army officers as a mechanism for mutual self-insurance when they were unable to secure auto insurance because of the perception that they, as military officers, were a high-risk group. USAA has since expanded to offer banking and insurance services to past and present members of the Armed Forces, officers and enlisted, and their immediate families.

Website	www.usaa.com

USAA - insurance companies in USA

History

The organization was originally called the United States Army Automobile Association. In 1924, the name was changed to United Services Automobile Association, when commissioned officers of other U.S. military services became eligible for membership. The company opened offices in Frankfurt, Germany, and London, England early in its history.

USAA is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, occupying 286 acres (116 ha) (a former horse farm) in the largest single-occupancy office building in the world, exceeding the size of the The Pentagon on the city's northwest side.

USAA is a pioneer of the concept of direct marketing; most of its business is conducted over the Internet or telephone using employees instead of agents. Until the 1960s the bulk of its business was conducted via mail. In the late 1960s, USAA began a transition from mail to phone-based sales and service. A toll-free number was launched in 1978, and Internet sales and service were launched in 1999 via its website.

The organization started offering homeowner's and life insurance in the 1960s, and brokerage and investment management services in the 1970s, and banking services in the 1980s.

Prior to 1996, eligibility for USAA membership was limited to commissioned officers in the U.S. armed forces, cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. service academies eligible to have a personal car, cadets and midshipmen in college and university ROTC programs, college and university students in the Marine Corps PLC or Navy AVROC programs, or college graduate officer candidates/officer trainees in the OCS programs of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, or the Air Force OTS program. In 1996, eligibility was extended to enlisted personnel in the U.S. armed forces.

USAA offered restricted membership to civilians between September 2009 and August 2013. This membership provided access to USAA’s investment products, most bank deposit products, and life insurance. Auto and property insurance policies were not included for non-military members due to eligibility restrictions.

Lines of business

Property, casualty, and life insurance

USAA offers a range of personal property and casualty (P&C) insurance, including automobile insurance, homeowner insurance, renters' insurance, as well as umbrella and personal property insurance. In addition to P&C insurance, USAA provides whole life insurance, term life insurance, and annuities. USAA's life insurance policies, while not completely unique in the industry, are different from most offerings since they do not include a war-exclusion clause

Banking

Banking services are provided by USAA Federal Savings Bank. The bank was established on December 30, 1983. According to USAA's 2015 Annual Report to Members, USAA held over $62.549 billion in deposits with more than 6.3 million accounts, making the company the 28th largest bank in the world. This is remarkable as the company has a sole branch at its headquarters in San Antonio, Texas.

USAA Federal Savings Bank's bank lobby located in San Antonio is its only full-service banking location. Other cities, however, hold financial centers, often near military bases, which provide advice and assistance in obtaining services of any kind offered by USAA, in addition to opening those accounts online. Limited service locations (or 'financial centers') cannot process deposits or withdrawals, other than those conducted at USAA ATMs located at the financial centers; ATM, in addition to teller withdrawals and deposits may also be made at the bank lobby in San Antonio, Texas.

Banking services can be accessed in person, by mail, by phone, or through the internet. USAA Federal Savings Bank provides members with the ability to deposit checks to their accounts using mobile applications on the Apple iPhone and iPad,mobile devices with Google's Android operating system, and Microsoft's Windows Phone.Members are also able to take advantage of USAA's UPS deposit option, called Easy Deposits, where members are able to deposit personal as well as business checks via UPS directly to their accounts. USAA was the first bank in the world to develop and deploy remote depositing by the Apple iPhone and holds a patent to this technology that has since been licensed widely by the banking industry across the world.

USAA also offers ATM fee rebates (up to $15/month), free standard checks for the life of the account, free online bill pay, and bank-by-mail services. USAA was one of the few major banks to begin offering American Express cards in 2006 in addition to their traditional offering of MasterCard. USAA was one of the few banks that were part of the initial rollout of Apple's Apple Pay. USAA has released that over one-million members are using Apple's Touch ID, utilizing their fingerprint to securely log on to the USAA Mobile Application on Apple's iPhones and iPads.

Major banking competitors include Bank of America-Military Bank, Pentagon Federal Credit Union,and the Navy Federal Credit Union.