I tried applying for USAA insurance and had to wait on hold for about 2 hours while they did some “verification” which I think was just contacting my sponsor/step dad. In the end they told me that I am not eligible but it seemed like they were unsure and kept going back and forth on it.
I am a dependent of a retired military individual. Basically my mom married my step dad who was active military, he did not adopt me but did sign for me as my sponsor to get me into the country. I never took US citizenship so I am still his dependent as far as I understand (when I applied for food stamps during COVID, this is what I was told). Him and my mother divorced but I did not think this would matter since he is still my sponsor with me not having naturalized to US citizenship.
My step father was very abusive and does not like me at all, so if they call him for some verification I am sure he would do anything in his power to prevent me from benefiting from his service and getting USAA.
So are military dependents actually ineligible, or did he just tell them things on the phone/deny having any relation with me so I would not be able to get insurance?
@Arin
If neither your mother or stepfather are willing to cooperate to verify your USAA eligibility, it is possible to establish such on your own. However, you will need to provide actual evidence of eligibility, i.e., birth certificate proving she is your mother, marriage certificate (or acceptable evidence) of legal marriage between your mother and stepfather, evidence of stepfather’s USAA membership prior to or during their marriage, and whatever else USAA would need to confirm eligibility. Verbal ‘say-so’ from you or anyone else is not sufficient. I’ve seen memberships revoked because a divorced spouse set up a membership, or added themselves to one (mainly online).
Afaik, stepchildren are eligible for USAA membership. That being said, your mom should be eligible for membership, as long as he was a member during their marriage, and then that would make you eligible by default regardless of the stepchild issue.
Noor said:
You were not adopted so legally he is not your step-dad
He may not be legally adopted but that doesn’t mean his step dad can’t be his sponsor or legal guardian. Had the same case as him, not legally adopted but my step father was my sponsor and he is officially (in the paper) my legal guardian. If I get in trouble when I was underage, he is the first to contact. So yeah, it’s possible even though there’s no adoption process that happened.
Did your stepdad acquire a USAA membership prior to or during his marriage to your mother? If he does not have a USAA membership, or if he acquired membership after he and your mother were divorced, then your mother and you are not eligible for USAA membership. Eligibility for food stamps, other government benefits or programs, or sponsorship, would not be USAA eligibility factors.
I am in the same situation as you, but the differences is my mom and my step dad are just legally separated not divorced. We have no point of contact with our step dad as well, but I had my mom called the USAA herself and enrolled every one of us in the Insurance, we have no problem at all. My step dad name is still on the insurance and he’s still the primary policy holder but I have no problem at all, even called USAA since I had a minor car accident and they are currently helping me with it. I think the best way is to ask your mom to call the USAA and put you together with her. That’s what my mom did on our case, and we have the control over our own insurance because I was told, even though we are under their policy, we have control over us. It’s the easiest method you can do, but if neither of them are willing to cooperate you had to prove to yourself that you are under their sponsorship so the USAA can enroll you.