I enlisted (Army) in 1975 and was appointed as a Warrant Officer in 1983, all Guard or Reserve, no deployments. Soon after my appointment I eagerly joined USAA, being an officer a requirement at the time. I recall attending an officer's basic course in San Antonio in the 1980s and the 0-6 regular Army commander saying, “I have four letters for you- USAA!” I last donned a uniform in 1994, and several years later realized a long-standing desire of international volunteer charity work, which found my wife and I first in Guatemala, then Kenya as a volunteer medical director (PA) in a remote clinic during the peak of the African AIDS crisis, and then in Honduras, where we established a facility for impoverished children in a rural village. In all I spent 5-6 years living and working in these countries.

For decades I was almost supercilious in my pride of being a USAA member, the finest insurance and financial services company in the world, and copiously passed on the word. Sadly, it all changed approximately five years ago when your predecessor, Wayne Peacock, sent a mass, manifesto-like email declaring we are all racists, but he has seen the light and is committing USAA to “social justice.” That this arrogant and privileged corporate man-child felt he was sufficiently sanctified to accuse thousands of social iniquity was both disconcerting and disappointing, to say the least. My wife and I devoted a huge amount of time, effort, and our own money to succor and elevate impoverished “people of color.” To be told by some white corporate millionaire we were failed people was, and remains, a deep insult. The up side is we began to disassociate ourselves from USAA as we discovered USAA had become a shell of what it once was, now the shady used-car dealer of finance and insurance.

I wrote Peacock a letter with the naive belief my 35-some years as a member would earn a response. I did receive a bizarre call with someone saying they reviewed our insurance rates but they couldn’t go any lower, a call I never solicited, then another call from some guy from the CEO’s office. I asked if it was about the letter I sent, and he replied, “What letter?” He assured me he would check into it and get back to me. After a few hours I had to leave the house but told my wife to expect a call from USAA; still waiting after almost five years.

In August or September of 2020 I was in touch with a nice enough though hapless representative of the CEO who told me USAA was fully dedicated to the Black Lives Matter “movement” and would NEVER waver in its support.. That BLM would quickly be revealed as a racialist con game was pretty obvious to me, so it wasn’t surprising that indeed is what happened. Soon after this call we canceled our USAA insurance and started moving our funds to other banks.

BLM, however, was not just about extracting money from corporations headed by rich white guys who felt guilty about their privilege and buying luxury homes. It was about making demands for “racial justice.” These demands included defunding police, release of criminals without bail, diminishing the legal status/severity of crimes, and pursuing prosecutions based upon skin color and political views. These “reforms” had a devastating and deadly effect among black people, with an approximately 35% increase in murders, meaning 1,000s of new black corpses were produced. Though the preferred narrative was that bands of white police and white supremacists roamed about gunning down unarmed black people, the fact is the overwhelming majority of black people murdered are killed by black people. Perhaps Peacock was right and I am racist, because I saw enough death of black people, including lots of children, in Africa to be particularly averse to it. The key for the cultural racialists is to never ask why there is so much black-on-black violence, because decreasing crime and death is not the goal, rather manipulating misery for the sake of power and money is.

Not surprisingly, removing the image of Uncle Ben from rice boxes, seeing wealthy white neighborhoods covered in BLM signs, and tearing down statues didn’t really provide any solutions. While Wayne Peacock and USAA did not directly have the blood of black people on their hands, they supported people, organizations, and policies that did lead to death and suffering in minority communities: it was the price Peacock and his fellow rich white CEO types were willing to pay to assuage whatever guilt they felt about their privilege.

One area where USAA has excelled is “corporatespeak,” where members are constantly assured that they are valued, that USAA is committed to the highest level of customer service and dedicated to the financial success of the members. As a rule, the louder the corporatespeak, the worse the customer service. I recall a time when members could email USAA with simple requests, such as “would you send me a packet of pre-addressed deposit envelopes.” Communication by email was discontinued, undoubtedly under the guise of “to enhance the member experience…” Members were now required to be herded through either the website or the dreaded phone call, having to navigate through endless automated menus and verification requirements. This is okay if whatever issue at hand could be resolved or question could be answered, but increasingly this was not the case. I once calculated it took approximately 20 minutes to go the phone call route, and that the rep at the other end was often clueless. After several attempts over several months, I was never able to obtain the packet of five deposit envelopes. This inability of USAA to accomplish this most basic customer service task was disconcerting.

I used to help an older member pay her credit card balance, using the best method told me by USAA- to write a check made out to her account. This worked fine until one time the $1,200 check I wrote simply disappeared. A circus ensued, being told at various times it was my fault because I never should have sent a check, that there was nothing they could do, and the other member had to be involved before they could look into it. I asked if we could establish a 3-way call for this purpose and was told it was impossible. As the time on the phone wore on and I was passed from rep to rep I was told the best way to achieve the goal of finding the $1,200 was to establish a 3-way call, which we did. Eventually the money was miraculously found after spending 3 to 4 hours on the phone, but not before the elderly member was charged fees/interest for what became a late payment due to the fecklessness of Peacock’s USAA.

USAA used to have an on-line “Community,” where members could share their experiences and offer tips and insights. As USAA degenerated, the Community increasingly became a forum for long-time members to express their concerns about the deterioration of their beloved company and, as weak and cowardly people and businesses often do in the face of criticism, they shut it down: the USAA Community was “retired.” Nevertheless, to USAA’s credit they would often respond to a concern mentioned in the Community, usually via phone call. Eventually it was almost amusing when I answered the phone and was asked if it was me, and the USAA rep would immediately demand I verify who I am, an experience I’ve had only with USAA (I’m sorry, didn’t you call me?).

All calls to USAA are prefaced with the admonishment, “This call may be recorded for quality assurance or training purposes.” I eventually was told that ALL calls are recorded, and I asked on several occasions why USAA doesn’t simply say that ALL calls will be recorded. One rep replied, “We won’t record your call if the recording system is down.” I asked on a few occasions if I could receive a digital copy of the recording and was told it would require a court order. Somehow I suspect that a legal CYA is involved beyond quality assurance and training purposes. Why USAA feels the need to be disingenuous is perplexing.

The pettiness of USAA that evolved under Peacock’s tenure remains baffling, but it involved annoyance and frustration on a more personal level. What is much more pernicious is that farce of interest rates on regular bank accounts. Despite the changes in the economy over the past several years that saw significant rise in the returns on regular savings accounts, USAA has held their rate steady at 0.01%, which is as close to 0 as possible (ever notice those 3 or 4 cents earned in interest every month?). This would be fine if USAA admitted it was now just another bank consumed by greed and contempt, like the Bank of America, which also held steady at 0.01% and is likewise led by an elitist white CEO who spouts all the usual DEI and “social justice” non-sense (both CEOs of course receive annual salaries in the multiple $millions). But USAA endlessly talks of its commitment to financial success of its members and how it exists only to serve them: “Reach your goals faster” proclaims the USAA website.

As far as I know, USAA has billions of dollars on deposit and I suspect, were USAA to pay anything above the lowest interest rates, it would fail. Ultimately I’m indebted to Peacock and the arrogance of his self-righteous mass email of five years ago, because up until then I was mindlessly complacent with USAA: it was the gold standard of insurance and financial services that never needed to be questioned. We moved essentially all of our money out of USAA to 1) a very pleasant local bank that doesn’t view its clients as adversaries and 2) the vast majority to a high-yield on-line bank (USAA is essentially an on-line bank). The rate obviously fluctuates, but at its peak we were receiving something like 4.5%. In other words, 450 times USAA (every $10,000 on deposit earns $450 a year, as compared to $1 from USAA). I pointed this out to a USAA rep once, who replied “We consider our rates competitive.” That response speaks for itself.

How sad that USAA, a company that once defined integrity, honesty, and service, decided to become a banking and financial services company equivalent to Fast Eddie’s Used Cars (Have we got deals for you!).