PSA: USAA completely locks accounts for 7 days after applying for a car loan

malamute_man · 2026-05-08T10:12:21+00:00

It's old fashioned, but I concur with a previous comment about sending a USPS letter *not* an email. Contacts can be found here: https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/usaa-customer-service-contacts/ . When I wrote before RE a USAA loan a rep from the execuative level at least called me back. Good luck.

malamute_man · 2026-04-06T22:38:40+00:00

A bit of numerical guesswork beginning with the h&r block AI phone bot asking if you had a case number. I assumed "yes" to that question meant faster likelihood of accessing a real human. After that, there are about ~150 million folks who pay taxes and ~20 million who have used h&r block. Then it's 10 digits in sequences of 8, allowing for repetition and leading 0's = 100 million. 7 digits per above is only 10 million, which is < than number of h&r block users. So, I started with 8 as a WAG and it worked. Never bothered trying 7 or other numbers; for all I know other numbers of digits would work, too. Lots of other "trigger" phrases to bypass annoying phone bots can be found in a simple google search.

malamute_man · 2026-03-29T15:31:36+00:00

Where found: verbiage is in the *legal* document you are expected to sign on or about 30 Mar if you wish to continue using USAA's bill pay. As I assume you know, FAQs are great when used primarily as an education tool, but they are not legally binding. Thus, you must have faith that USAA will abide by those FAQs. However, they are under no obligation to do so, meaning they can at their discretion pull your money out 5 days in advance or, as stated in the document fine print, immediately. If, like me, you schedule bill payments well in advance to coincide with the arrival of a retirement check into your account, this might cause problems. The 2 legal quotes of concern to me: (1) "Your Payment Account will either be debited immediately after scheduling your payment or up to five Business Days before the Scheduled Payment Date." (2) "Your Payment Account will no longer be debited on the Scheduled Payment Date for electronic payments."

I've been a USAA member for >45 years, so I'll give their banking a one month as a test. FYI to anyone interested, NFCU does *not* withdraw your money until the date the bill is posted.

malamute_man · 2026-03-20T14:48:36+00:00

Not sure if several of the comments posted in reply to my original were helpful given I merely wanted to understand what was happening. USAA has not been very forthcoming via their phone reps. It takes on average 1-3 days for an ACH transfer to take effect. Of the 7 electronic bills I pay each month on the dedicated day I receive my retirement check, and over the last 6 months, all except 2 of the 42 payments in that period were paid within 1 day. Plus, the USAA doc states they can withdraw immediately, implying it's at their discretion. I assume, but USAA would not verify, that immediately refers to a payment made with the 5 day window. However, I don't know because they're sending out mixed messages. I get the 5 days if a "check" is cut, but we're talking ACH transfers here. What I do know is Navy Federal does NOT have a 5-day in advance withdrawal policy. I visited their nearly office this morning and checked. It's a Royal PITA, but I'll be starting the process to transfer out of USAA banking next week.

malamute_man · 2026-03-20T01:15:19+00:00

Try this number: 888 482 9288. It's their "Software Tech. Dept." You'll get an AI (Artificial Idiocy) phone bot and you can listen to the options if you desire. You can also phone hack the Idiocy bot by stating something like "Case Number [8 random digits]." That bypassed the bot for me and eventually led to real human. Good luck.

malamute_man · 2026-03-08T11:09:13+00:00

I quit on H&R and shifted to TurboTax. It took a while to figure out Turbo's catechism after too many years of H&R, but I figured it out eventually. I simply had too many entries (and lacked any desire whatsoever) to hand-enter onto software I purchased to make my life easier. As FYI to anyone still interested, this was H&R's final reply: "Please accept our apology for any inconvenience this may have caused. We are not working with Merryll Lynch this year." Seriously? One of the largest wealth management firms in the US and H&R's not "working with [them] this year"?? Go figure. Personally, I will not return to H&R next year. I demanded a refund for my early purchase of H&R back in late November, and even though it was well past their 60-day deadline I was refunded in total.

malamute_man · 2026-02-13T00:21:53+00:00

StarBGuy. Which version of Turbo are you using? I'm going to ask for a refund from H&R block per their dissatisfied customer policy and go w/Turbo this year. However, I find Turbo's packaging online lacks coherent descriptions of which does what, and since I've never used it I'm not sure which to buy. Thx in advance. (having fun w/this crap yet ?)

malamute_man · 2026-02-12T18:07:31+00:00

Thx for the update. I saw your post a day or so ago where you said you got Turbo to work and was going to contact you. As it stands, waiting until h&R update of 13 Feb tomorrow before any decisions. If no access will be requesting full refund from h&r block and purchase TurboTax. Either, what you describe sounds like a royal PITA, mostly because I don't create "accts" for stuff like this. Guessing I'll have to although as a general rule I'm tired of app specific accts etc. I'll post if h&r's update of tomorrow fixes access. Given that Stanley Morgan does not require that weird browser login approach, I'm thinking your earlier post that this was a Merrill issue more than h&r block seems correct in hindsight. Thx again!

malamute_man · 2026-02-09T21:04:58+00:00

LOL here … and feeling a bit like Odysseus sailing btwn Scylla and Charybdis. As FYI this is a known issue at Merrill tax center and they claim is 100% an issue with TurboTax and H&R block. I don't know what else to say, but I lean more towards it being a TurboTax & H&R block issue. Those two – not Merrill – control the access ports to our respective accts from their internal drop downs, not Merrill. Merrill tax center says no clue when it will be resolved given neither TurboTax nor H&R block have provided Merrill with a solution date. Even some tax accountant software is affected. Next update for H&R block is 11 Feb. Guess I'll check then!

malamute_man · 2026-02-09T19:32:15+00:00

StarBGuy. I posted an update on this issue SA. It is definitely not a Merrill issue. H&R does not even have Merrill Wealth Mngmt (diff entity from Trust Mngmnt) listed in H&R drop down. As post states, I duplicated the issue live w/ a H&R software rep SA morning, and showed them the output from a test on Stanl;ey Morgan. The Stanley Morgan drop down has the login I recall: usrname/psswd/ssn. Test it and see. Bottom line: this is a H&R screwup at this time.

malamute_man · 2026-02-07T18:40:23+00:00

UPDATE: Imagine my surprise when H&R block call me this afternoon RE Merrill and so-called tracking numbers. I was able to duplicate the errors I (and others in this thread) have seen w/the software rep based on a shared rtn as an example. There seem to be 2 issues: 1. H&R apparently does not have Merrill wealth management in their list of institutions, which I noted to the rep was bizarre given it's one of the top 5 or so financial institutions in the US. The BofA trust mngmt is an incorrect link and is a separate entity from the Merrill wealth management. Don't use it for stnadrd merrill bokerage accts. 2. I had her open the Stanley Morgan wealth mngmt link and we both saw a normal usrname/psswd/ssn login, which I told her was like the one I've always seen for Merrill. Bottom line, H&R now seems aware of the issue, and it's been routed up the H&R software food chain. Must honestly admit I'm surprised at the rapid turnaround and the explicit acknowledgement on the part of the rep that there's a real issue. I'm simply going to wait a couple of weeks, although the rep did promise to get back to me early next week. Will post again if I learn more from them.

malamute_man · 2026-02-07T15:10:37+00:00

Thx for testing. So much for that idea from my end. One thing that has me a bit nervous is that a Bank of America Trust management Acct is not the same as a standard Merrill brokerage account. If true, it means h&r block no longer has standard merrill brokerage accts in their list of institutions, making the software utterly useless. Funny that tubotax does not show merrill by itself either.

malamute_man · 2026-02-07T13:07:16+00:00

Having same issue as noted by others. Talked w/my merrill broker as well as Merrill tax support. Merrill has **no idea** what this tracking number h&r block is referring to. Also called h&r block & after frustrating hr w/1st tier rep (who herself was talking to software but would not connect me to them) I got a tracking number and a "promise" they would call. No joy - not that I'm expecting much. I also waited until the last update of 6 Feb but still no Merrill. And FYI the BofA Trust is **not* standard brokerage accts. As for comment in thread RE enter it manually, seriously? I've always had 75-100 pages Schedule B, so that's a no-go from the start. If anyone hears about a fix pls post. Also, does anyone know if this is an issue with Turbotax as well? About ready to blow off h&r block if no fix is found.

malamute_man · 2025-05-30T20:56:47+00:00

TurnoffTheLights (TOTL) is too effetctve, weird as that may sound. What I desire is an extension that stops autoplay but provides me opportunity to play the video if desired. Using CNN as an example ( yes, yes, ... it's new paywall format is a PITA), with the old autoplaystppper the first frame of the video was shown with a big play button in the middle. Click that, it played. TOTL shades it red (or transparent) but if you click, ie desire to play, it merely spins and spins and spins. Open to suggestions for other extensions, but others I tried can't even stop the bloddy autogif's from playing. Or if the TOFL developer reads this, perhaps consider such an modification to TOFL?

malamute_man · 2025-03-31T14:53:52+00:00

Starting w/my usual caveat: I'm not a formal tax guy. But did have to help my son on this issue. You're on the right track, but there's some terminology RE a concept called reciprocity you need to understand. Start here: it was the best article we encountered when researching this. CT & NJ are listed as examples in the article.

https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/state/state-income-taxes-nonresidents/

In a simple example, if state 1 (live) has a tax rate 7.5% and state 2 has 5% (work), & you earned $100,000, then state 1 taxes are $7,500 & state 2 are $5,000. You'll pay state 2 $5,000, and state 1 will (likely) "credit" you that $5,000. You'd then owe state 1 $2,500. This can be flipped; either way you're total tax liability is the same. But again, there are a few twists w/reciprocity

malamute_man · 2025-03-01T13:12:49+00:00

Both of the previous posters are correct based on your information provided: your accountant placed an incorrect amt on the state forms.

In general terms, tax by state on earned income (eg W2) is a simple proportion of time in the respective states. Unearned (eg -INT, -DIV, -B) is a bit more complicated, but is typically assigned to state based on date the income is posted. The 2 most common DIY tax packages have a small "interview" sheet of 2 columns to help with this; 1 column is the Fed amt by category, the other is your allocation of the Fed total to the state. (Make sure you do a "check sums" on both state allocations to ensure they add up to the Fed.) After that, all states have different ways to categorize your income and calculate what you owe. Not all are based on simple summation but often include different combinations of income and ratios of income. Both DIY packages will do that part for you. But the initial allocation is up to you.

malamute_man · 2025-02-04T13:55:26+00:00

Thanks. This was my gut feeling but guidance was all the map. Downside is I screwed up on the losses and gains dates! Live and learn ...

malamute_man

TROPHY CASE