I’ve been a USAA member for seventeen years, since I was a junior at West Point (USAA is the financial institution dedicated to serving our Armed Forces). Great service. Always. That’s why I’ve stuck with them for all these years on an almost no-bid basis, and have done a number of mortgages there.
Until now.
I’m in the middle of a 1031 exchange – selling a property and putting the proceeds into a tax deferred account to invest in another property. I’ve done the sell part, now I need to buy something.
I put offers in on three small multi-family properties this week and needed pre-approvals to submit along with the contract. So I called USAA. The fee to fax me three pre-approvals: $150 bucks. $50 bucks per property, which would be refunded only on those contracts that closed and were financed via USAA.
No way.
I called PHH mortgage. They took my info and faxed me the three pre-approvals for free. And fast. I’ll do the loans with them.
Strikes me as peculiar that USAA would chase off a customer w/ great credit and a seventeen year track record. I wrote them a letter of complaint; I’ll let you know if I get a response.
