Trouble setting up USAA Bank Online Services for Two Different Users

Question

Windows 11 Home. Quicken Classic Premier Version R58.9 Build 27.1.58.9.

This problem started back in April or May. My spouse and I each have a log on to USAA Bank. We share a Checking account and two Savings Accounts. Both of us see these accounts regardless of which one logs into USAA Bank. In addition, we each have two credit cards from USAA Bank. When I log I have access to see our Checking and two Savings accounts and both MY Credit Card accounts and their transactions, but not my wife's Credit Cards. Likewise, when she logs on she has access to see our Checking and two Savings accounts and both HER Credit Card accounts and their transactions, but not my Credit Cards

My problem is when I try to set up Online services to download transactions for all these accounts I am prompted to "Sign In" to USAA Bank. If I sign in as myself I can create links to our Checking Account, two Savings Accounts, and MY two Credit Cards. Since I can't see my spouses credit cards when I am signed on as me I cannot create links to them. I have to sign in as my wife to create links to her two credit cards so I do that, create the links, and all seems to be going well until I hit Finish. When I hit Finish, a window pops up saying that MY credit card account does not exist at USAA Bank so Online Services are being disabled. The only way to proceed is to select OK, and then the same happens for my other credit card. End result is that Online Services are removed for my credit cards. I tried various ways , setting up Online Services for her accounts first, then mine … setting up each account individually, etc. but the results are always the same. One or the other of us has Online Services disabled for their Credit Cards depending on who I sign in as.

Am I doing something wrong?

nmestanas · Answer

Thanks, Yes, that makes sense.  I was aware of the merge but not it's implications in circumstances like yours.  I too had to "reauthorize" my USAA but my accounts are only mine.  Several family members are also subscribers but they don't use my Quicken not do I track anything of theirs so this change was transparent to me.

Quicken is only passing credentials to the financial institution (FI) so you can only see (and download) what the FI allows.  At this point it's a matter of compliance with security and privacy regulations and protocols.

USAA does allow you to authorize additional users.  In your Costco situation, the person likely didn't understand what you wanted and did the typical thing for married couples.  Perhaps if each of you, under your own USAA logins, add each other, that would leave each of you as the primary for your accounts and the other as the secondary.  Of course, you should check with USAA to see if approach this meets your needs.

Jeff $ · Answer

Thanks for the response.

In May and for years past when I would run One Step Update that process actually accessed USAA Bank twice. During the first access it would download transactions for our shared Checking and Savings accounts and my two Credit Card accounts, and then close that connection. It would then log in to USAA again and download transactions for my spouses credit cards. Now I just noticed that One Step Update only has one log in session to USAA Bank. I did some research and found the below announcement from USAA about a 1 June internal merger which I assume is the likely cause of this issue.

"To simplify operations and best serve members, USAA Savings Bank (USB) and USAA Federal Savings Bank (FSB) are becoming one. All products will be offered through FSB. This change is effective June 1, 2024."

"FSB opened its doors over forty years ago to offer banking services to our eligible members. USB was established later for the sole purpose of issuing USAA credit cards. Merging the two banks simplifies our operations and allows us to issue credit cards more efficiently."

Having said that, there is still an issue with Quicken. Some married couples use the same bank, but keep some (or all) of their accounts completely separate. For credit cards this is especially important because financial institutions will often issue credit cards to a husband and a wife (the credit cards have different numbers, giving the impression that each is a separate account) however there is actually only one account with someone designated as the "Primary" account holder and the other person designated as an "Authorized User" of this account. Often users are not aware that these credit cards are all linked to one person, the Primary account holder. There are some little known but significant ramifications of having all the credit cards associated or linked to one person. The first problem with this setup is that the credit history is all associated with the primary account holder, so the authorized user is not building any credit history. The second, and more significant problem is that if the primary account holder dies, all the credit cards get cancelled. So if we set up our credit card accounts like this and I died, both my and my spouses credit cards would be cancelled AND she would discover that she has no credit history of her own to apply for new ones. It's much better to have the financial institution issue each person their own credit cards, separate and independant from each other. Hence each person has to have their own individual log in to the bank. Checking, Savings, and other accounts are different as they can be "Joint" accounts so shared and visible to both users.

Befor they merged their operations it seems USAA internally had two entities, one that handled banking accounts and another that handled credit cards. I think this is why One Step Update would log into USAA twice to download transactions, once to USAA FSB under my log in to download my credit cards and shared accounts transactions, then to USAA USB using my wife's log in to download her credit card transactions. As far as Quicken was concerned these were two separate institutions so no conflict. Once USAA pulled them under the same umbrella it's now causing a problem.

I will get ahold of USAA to see if there is something they can do, but that won't fix the bigger problem where Quicken only recognizes one user per financial institution and assumes that all accounts for different family members are linked to that one user. The fact that it automatically disables other accounts not associated with that user is particularly disruptive. People use Quicken to manage and see their overall financial situation, so it needs to be able to recognize (as with the credit card situation described above) that there are legitimate reasons for family members to have separate accounts and separate log ins to the same financial institution.

Sorry for the long-winded response but I believe all was necessaty to explain what I think changed and why this suddenly became an issue with Quicken.

Jeff $ · Answer

Thanks for the response.

So, I think I have discovered why this suddenly became an issue. I found the below announcement from USAA on their web site. This internal change coincides with the date I started having issues with USAA Bank in Quicken.

"To simplify operations and best serve members, USAA Savings Bank (USB) and USAA Federal Savings Bank (FSB) are becoming one. All products will be offered through FSB. This change is effective June 1, 2024. This change doesn’t affect the products or services we provide and no action is required.

FSB opened its doors over forty years ago to offer banking services to our eligible members. USB was established later for the sole purpose of issuing USAA credit cards. Merging the two banks simplifies our operations and allows us to issue credit cards more efficiently."

Having found why the problem started is good, but it also reveals a problem within Quicken if the application only recognizes one login per financial institution and assumes all accounts within a family will be associated with that one user. There are sound financial reasons for a husband and wife to have different and completely separate credit card accounts at the same financial institution, which also means they must have individual logins.

For example, financial institutions will often issue credit cards to couples with one as the "Primary" account holder and the other as an "Authorized User" of this account. The credit cards have different numbers, so the credit card holders often assume each is an individual account, but they are not. My wife and I recently got Citi credit cards through Costco and discovered afterward that, despite asking them to issue them separately, Citi had issued both cards under my account, with me as the Primary and my wife as an Authorized User.

There are two big problems with having your credit cards set up like this. First is that credit history from all cards are associated only with the primary account holder. Second, and more serious, is that if the primary account holder dies, both their and the spouses credit cards get cancelled. So, if I died my wife's Citi credit card would be cancelled AND she would have no credit history to apply for a new one. I had to have Citi fix this once I realized the situation.

Our USAA credit cards are completely separate accounts, which means we have to have separate logins, Our Checking and Savings are shared, or joint accounts, therefore visible to both of us, but the individual credit cards are only visible to whichever of us is logged in. This is how all couples credit cards should be set up, and Quicken should be able, or be fixed so it can handle it.

At the very least it should not assume that any account at that financial institution which is not associated with the one login it will recognize is closed and should be disabled.

Sorry for the rant and please let me know if there is anything I can do to alleviate the issue.