USAA Mobile

This app has been hacked by an internal virus!

TLDR: USAA changed their app a few months ago and rolled back to online features that were basically like changing online banking from 2021 to 2006. LOL. Why even?

Full story: I loved this app. It was highly efficient at managing all of my accounts (checking, savings, auto loan, vehicle and renter's insurance, children's 529s etc.) in one location. It was 5+ stars easily and a must recommend to anyone with access to USAA.

At that time, the accounts actually reflected future data that related to the other USAA accounts. This might not seem like much given that it's 2021, but It was awesome. So awesome, I didn't think about how awesome it was. It just seemed like how an app should work in the modern era and USAA nailed it with an Olympic gold medal. GOLD!

For instance, in the banking accounts, if you had a scheduled USAA insurance or auto loan payment, it would automatically show that as a future payment in your checking account 30 days before it posted. You could see the future balance well before the transaction cleared so you wouldn't overdraft your account. You didn't have to add it to your checking register. USAA knew it was coming because, well, they were billing you for it. Pretty clever? Yeah it's 2021 these apps should do this. And this one did. 5 stars to USAA.

But wait, it gets better. You could also add transactions that YOU knew were coming up, categorize them, and it would show you the future (estimated) balance after those had cleared. If it was something reoccurring (like your rent or utilities for instance) you could set it to be automatic and it would show up in your checking/savings register right on time.

(Anecdotes for thesis support here) My garbage/recycling bill comes out quarterly. I always forget it's coming. But the USAA App didn't. It let me know and I made sure I planned for that extra $103 withdrawal. The Amazon Prime annual subscription cost? You betcha, every 12 months it would let me know it was coming well in advance. I had about 40 regular transactions built into this handy future register. It all showed together with your cleared transactions like how a check book should look. Tom Hanks would have been more impressed with the USAA app than Zoltan.

Then, one day earlier this year, USAA had a virus, maybe a Trojan Horse, but definitely a major bug designed as an "app update".

The app had changed. Cool. I love updates. That's how things progress and it is why we are where we are today.

So, I opened the app to check my account balances. It showed my account balance as of that day. That's cool. I'm glad I could log in and see what had cleared and where my balance was (hello 2001). But, something was missing. My future transactions weren't there.

I waited a while (2 days to be precise) and contacted USAA customer service about the problem with my account. I let them know my app had updated itself with an apparently earlier version of the app that lost interoperability features with other parts of USAA. They said they'd look into. I'm afraid to report I didn't let them have much time to look into (3 days was all I was willing to wait before I contacted them again) and of course I had to explain this issue to an entirely new CSA rep.

They did some research while I was on the phone and let me know it was a new app update designed to "help" us customers.

Yes, they had helped us back to 2005. OMG. Are you serious? Eventually, (like several weeks later) they let me know that this WAS THE LATEST UPDATE AND WAS NOT A VIRUS.

THIS IS A VIRUS.

So, the future transactions are mostly gone. When you're logged into the account, you can click another link to look at future transactions that your add yourself (USAA does not preload the USAA payments for insurance, auto loans, etc. anymore). They're gone...

And, they are not anywhere near the app screen for the current transactions. They are entirely separate. What they have done is taken the app back to 2005 standards, not progressed to where the 2021 or 2022 levels of the app should be for a competitive, progressive, pro-military, bank.

There's two conclusions to why they did this and I'll let you decide which is true.

1) THEIR APP DEVELOPMENT TEAM IS A BUNCH OF [censored]S THAT UNDERSTAND APP DEV CODE BUT UNDERSTAND NOTHING ABOUT MAKING PERSONAL FINANCE EASY TO MANAGE. THIS WILL INHERENTLY COST THE MILITARY CUSTOMER MORE MONEY IN SERVICE FEES BECAUSE THEY MADE IT TOO EASY BEFORE TO MANAGE THEIR ACCOUNT BALANCES.

OR

2) USAA HAS MASTERED THE ART OF BEING A WOLF IN SHEEPS'S CLOTHING. THE MILITARY LOVED THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE USAA BUT WE APP BOUGHT INTO THE LIE, HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER. WE ARE NOW PAYING THE FEES OF DECEPTION FOR BELIEVING THEM.

Okay, so there's actually a third option here. USAA just didn't realize we relied on this and thought they'd "improve" it but actually made it worse.

USAA, Please change it back so I don't have to consider switching Banks/car insurance/529s/renter's insurance/auto loans to make my life normal for 2021 again.

Cheers.