Money Beat

WAMU is dying. A slow death made by bad bad decisions topped by a worst decision to get death spiral financing. http://seekingalpha.com/article/86462-citi-merrill-wamu-death-spiral-financing

Wa Mu has been such a poor business to deal with that I wrote them a year ago that my goal was to cost them one customer a week so it gladdens my heart to have stories like out there now to help me. Poor service and poor attitude should result in failure!

Good bye and good riddance:

About 15 years ago, I had the misfortune of having a WaMu savings account. WaMu had taken over my savings and loan and I thought nothing of it. I left the savings account intact and went about my business, figuring it was the same terms as before (I was never notified of a change in account terms) And expected it would continue to earn interest. It wasn't much, a little under $100.00, but it was all I had in savings.

What happened, instead, was the new, unannounced and uninformed $3.00/month (might have been $5.00/month) account maintenance fee ate it all. I didn't know any of this because I didn't get statements sent (their error, nbot mine) and only learned of it when my checking account was hit for a deduction I didn't authorize. They had the gall to say I owed them the balance of the fee when it ate more than I had in the account.

I believe my response was an extended upright middle finger and closed my checking account, telling them I'm leaving the other open just so they have a book-keeping issue forever.

As far as I'm concerned Karma is catching up to these morons and this bank can go under with my blessings.

Don't know much about this S&L, but from the comments I've read it sounds like they were real bad.

Hmmm. I have an account with WAMU and I don't remember any bad experiences with them. I assume probably 10 years or more before they were not very flexible I would say but recently I had bad experiences with other banks that are top in the market.

Don't believe the media hype. I've been in the finance business for years and I work for WaMu. Over here, it's business as usual. Banking isn't like GM where you make too many cars and they don't sell.

Banks thrive on liqudity. When you have a period of bad loans, it takes years to shake those bad loans off your books. In the mean time, money has to come from somewhere, so we simply beefed-up our interest rates.

The stock price can't get much lower. You wouldn't have much to lose. Once the company gets back to profitability, the stock price will probably go back to $30 range, which means if you invest $3000 in stock, it will probably be worth $30,000 in 2011.

Been with WaMu for close to 15 years and not had a single problem. Before them I had Wachovia (they sucked), and Sun Trust in FL (they sucked ever more)

My mortgage was sold to WaMu several years ago. I have had good and prompt service from them with all questions and concerns.

I currently bank with WAMU and would hate to see them go. They have always provided great products and service. What I like best is their business model. They are challenging they way banks do business from their community involvement to their retail layout. As a marketing professional its a pleasure to see a fresh, new approach.

WAMU? You bet it's karma. I'd tell you the entire story of their long series of screwups, but it's long and complicated. WAMU's right hand doesn't know what its left hand is doing and their customer service is the absolute *worst* I have ever encountered, in my 47 years of dealings with lots of different banks and businesses.

I'm also a long-time customer doing all my business with a wonderful reliable co.The people of WAMU take the time to explain your questions without dis I'm not savvy about all finances, stocks and loans,BUT I know I would trust WAMU any time. A little tidbit: If I could afford the money I'd invest in stocks and have no worries about retirment.

Don't even get me started on Wamu. We are having a terrible time with them. Everytime we call no one can look up our account and see notes on the previous conversation. If they don't learn how to provide better customer service they WILL lose everything. You can bet that I am passing the word along to my friends. I would not recommend them to my best friend or worst enemy.

My original mortgager sold to WAMU and I was happy to sell my home and I will NEVER deal with them again! They had horrible customer service and they're mandatory repayment plans were very frustrating.

Let us all remember this when WaMu goes belly up. I give it two months. GO GET YOUR MONEY NOW!

We're probably going to get our money out. The majority of times they have been good, but there were 2 incidents where they were pretty awful. See ya WaMu at the unemployment line.

ABC, I do believe the bank's name is "Washington Mutual", not "WaMu". Or maybe I should call you "AmeriBroad"?

Wamu is an excellent company with morals and values. Right now every bank is losing money and NO BANK at this time is turning profits due to the mortgage crisis in America. Leave Wamu alone!!!!What people should really be doing is focusing on the election!!! Choose a candidate WHO will benefit you not hurt you like BUSH!!!

My husband and I have banked with WAMU for eight years and have never had a problem with them. We are very happy customers. This is the best bank we've ever dealt with so I am surprised at the disparaging comments here. I suspect many people who don't handle money well or don't manage their accounts would rather blame their bank than take responsibility for themselves.

When someone says something like "their customer service is the absolute *worst* I have ever encountered, in my 47 years of dealings with lots of different banks and businesses." Lots of different banks?
Why so many banks? It sounds to me like you are a person that is a financial failure and you have the need to blame others.

I've been with Washington Mutual since they open a branch in my town 9 years ago. I only switched to them because my original bank bellied up. I have both my personal and business account with them. When I have a need to go into the branch 3 or 4 times a year, they still greet me by name. How bad can that be?

Whiners need to get some REAL financial training. Learn to take charge of your finances, not let your finances control you and then blame the bank.

I knew a Loan Originator who worked @ Wamu in Illinois and she told me their Underwriters were racist. When a qualified mortgage applicant with a ethic surname would apply, the Underwriters would simply not approve. She said they always found a reason to deny the application but noticed applicants with non-ethic surnames and even lower FICO scores were always approved.

I have all my business with WaMu. Since 2002 I should clarify, but by far they are the best of all the previous I had.
And I went through all the big fella' ones=ripoffs.
WaMu?: very ok! Nice and comprehensive Customer Service. Simple and straightforward services.
We need more of these instead of those. Believe me.
Hope they clear out the everyplace clouds.

Tristan said, "Why so many banks? It sounds to me like you are a person that is a financial failure and you have the need to blame others."

Hardly. My finances are in fine shape. Have you never moved to a different city/state? Have you never purchased more than one home? Have you never had accounts in different banks? Aren't there better interest rates or plans elsewhere sometimes? How much is insured by FDIC at any one bank?

I don't understand why you don't consider that I *might* be speaking honestly and nondefensively when I say that WAMU has very, very poor customer service. Why else would I feel compelled to write this?

Why would you try to blame someone mistreated by WAMU instead of assuming that anyone mistreated by a company must have done something to deserve it? Do you work for WAMU PR? Are you attempting to do damage control? [Strange how the supporting emails on this thread are written suspiciously similarly...]

Instead of calling individuals names, think about their perspectives.

I banked with them in Houston before moving to the east coast and never had a bad experience.

Then again, different people have different experiences and expectations of what good customer service is.

Wamu is and will continue to be one of the best companies I have ever worked with as an account holder and investor in Washington mutual securities. I would suggest you do some home work on the company, Money talks people and they have plenty of it.

WAMU is our bank. We have always been treated well by them. One time a direct deposit didn't get deposited and we had fifteen or twenty bounced checks with the resulting fees for each check.
They actually covered the checks and then they reversed all the fees for us!
We banked with them a long time and they
knew us.
We are in WA, so we know the real WAMU, not the other banks they acquired.
I think they took over too many banks.
When they aquired Providian, I thought wow, the isn' their type of banking!!
I hope they survive.

Better than any other bank I have dealt with.
Very easy to deal with, and when I did have one minor issue they took care of it quickly. You can't beat their fees either. (There are none)

I own preferred stock and believe WM is a good bank. Go WAMU

I absolutely L O V E WaMu. They have excellent customer service and I know people that work there and it's a great place to work.

let them fail

I too love WaMu. Have had my checking, savings and mortgage with them for years. They are top notch. Employees are great. Love their bank branches, not stuffy or arrogant. Whenever I need to contact their customer service, my call is answered promptly and professionally and I get the answers I need. Seems to me that the complainers on this thread, for the most part, are the unfortunate people who can't handle their finances and blame banks instead. Get a life. WaMu will survive and thrive.

And, you know, I even bought a chunk of stock recently. What a deal! Great company that puts customers first and, to me, that's a winner.

banks are evil, capitalism is not humane

I worked for Washington Mutual Finance for 2 years before Citi bought us out. By far Washington Mutual had the wost managers and VPs. They were cutthroat and didn't have a clue about how to run a business. I think that is the reason they had to sell because they could never get things right the first time. The business made a lot of mistakes and then they sold it to Citi. Thank God.

I think most of the adverse comments here about Washington Mutual have been posted by losers with Mickey Mouse Accounts. The smaller the balance, the more service and recognition they demand. Washington Mutual had a policy that if a customer walked in the front door and needed or wanted a loan, they got it. If the customer was declined, that same customer would be posting here. I have been in the real estate business for 35 years at the same address with the same telephone number. I banked with Home S&L and then Washington Mutual after they acquired Home. My banking needs are rather simple however I do have large certificates of deposit. I do not do complicated transactions as transfering this to that and that to this. Often customers are concerned about their importantance again as I said with their Mickey Mouse accounts. They move money here, check balances there, a loan here and a credit card there. The only bad thing I see these days with Washington Mutual is that they don't have private banking so that serious savers and investors don't have to deal with those who have nickle and dime accounts and they they are millionaires. It is also illegal to cause a run on the bank and when you state that they are going under and get your money out now, you are contributing to the problem. Now let's hear from the Mousekateers as soon as they are done checking their balances.

All this talk about Wama. I have a mtg with them and my accounts for 10 years and they have been great.

You want to look at a crooked bank you look at JP MOrgan Chase bank. They closed a loan with me promised me a certificate of occupancy on new construction loan I recinded the loan after I was locked out they did not do that. Their guldlines stated on Zippy on the internet they needed a cert of occupancy. Now they are trying to forclose saying they funded theloan in good faith. They say I singed the loan docs but the the clause also states that I must occupy witihin 60 days. I was locked out for 5 months. You want to talk about deceit and fraud and bad banks you look at JP Morgan Bank. At least Wamu would not mistakes like this. Anyone who wants to follow the story on the lawsuite against Jp Morgan a lawsuite is being filed In Broward county Florida.

I am not wamu customer but it's very sad that some folks are happy and in praise for down fall of wamu. I would categorize such folks with chavez who hates America and everything to do with it, yet it's his number one oil customer. That's unpatriotic and criminal. Failing of wamu means jobless brothers and sisters and disary to the economy which is already weak.

WAKEUP! It is not the quality of service that will sink WAMU. It is poor banking practices that put the bank and therefore large deposits at risk. WAMU will fail soon. Insiders see it, stock plummets, Record CDS spread, CEO ousted, OTS memo, Junk status, TPG death spiral financing, Secret meetings, EOQ update... Get your WAMU deposits below FDIC guidelines and expect slower payout as FDIC refills coffers.

I worked at a help desk at WaMu in Illinois for 3 years, then I was laid off. After purchasing a number of mortgage companies, WaMu started downsizing and of course all the jobs that could be, were outsourced to India. It's a poorly managed company, and they let total incompetents become team leaders. I even had my team leader chase me into the bathroom to ask why I had left my desk. Good riddance to a company yhayt is oinly interested in thier own bottom line.

Please elect Democrats in the upcoming election, they are not perfect, but they do tend to focus more in the average consumer and less on big business, oil companies, etc. like the Republicans - Bush, McCain, they are all the same, no matter how McCain tries to distance himself from Bush.

We need a government that cares about people more than big business and that means Democrats.

I've been with WaMu for ten year now & have never had any bad experiences. They've been the most pleasant, professional bank I've ever done business with. Regarding another comment.. Yes! SunTrust does SUCK!

I'd like to know why these banks are now holding money for a full two days now.....Sound like their messing around with people's money. I wish one of these reporters would investigate that as another tactic that these banks are using to mess with their accounting.

I banked with Western before it was bought off by Washington Mutual. Their customer service took a huge dive. We closed the accounts years ago and they tried to stall us for hours.

WAMU just needs to get with the program like B of A. You know, start doing things like holding Social Security deposits until 9 am so as to create a 9 hour window of opportunity to overdraft seniors bank accounts and of course in typical B of A fashion, dont tell them your making the change. They could also try not posting banking information to customers internet portals for 2 or 3 days so they cannot keep good track of their accounts and make more overdrafts. Then there's one of my favorites, move your mailing center to the other side of the country so the overdraft NSF notices take a good 4-5 days to get to the customer causing all kinds of collateral damage.....at $35 a pop. I could go on all day with these, remember last year when all the banks first had trouble except one, that was B of A and that was the month they made a banking policy change to ATM cards. Before that month if you tried to use your ATM debit card to pay for something and didnt have funds it would automatically refuse the charge right there on the spot, that was the month they started paying those into overdraft so as to collect the $30-35 fee and they made billions of dollars fleecing their customers that month. Two months later they slide just like everyone else. Anyway, WAMU says they are making some changes to restore them to profitability........bet they hired someone from B of A.

WAMU deserves to go. Years ago I had purchased with a partner a home off Long Island that is only accessible by ferry(the houses are connected by walks, no cars).For a good part of the year, the winter, access is limited. My partner and I broke up and the home was sold in November. That following January WAMU called me in the dead of winter to inform me that I was going into foreclosure and they would seize the house(good luck-the bay froze over and so did ferry service). They had already been sent a payoff check but refused to acknowledge it as a full payoff even though their own corporate letterhead gave us instructions on the payoff amount with per diem. They obliterated my credit for two years until finally I got through to someone at their corporate offices in Seattle(took MANY phone calls for this) who said they would never send out a doc like that and then changed her tune and was all apologetic when I faxed her the document proving my case. The bottom line is that they are poor listeners and poor bookkeepers who have been propped up and placed in a position to influence people's lives. They do not respect that honor(it's called service) and now they are bearing the brunt of it, much like the rest of the banking system. It is only when we will have oversight to prevent this kind of client abuse(and a restoration of the principle of customer service) to where we as Americans will see the health of our financial system restored. We as Americans deserve better and we have known that. It is now our responsibility to demand it and carry forward, leaving the carcasses of those who violate our trust(WAMU, etc.) behind.

I had a Wamu credit card, shredded it when it became clear that Wamu would not stop sending paper statements(I bank and pay all bills online). In this day of rampant identity theft I would rather not have a piece of paper with my name, address, and credit card number printed on it sitting in a box at the end of my driveway for someone to steal. I was told it is "against company policy" not to send paper statements. Stupid. Buh-bye.

My wife and I have been with WAMU for several years now and we've been very, very happy and appreciative with their service and people. I'm sure all banks have their pluses and minuses but in my fifty-some years I've found WAMU the most caring and honorable bank to date. I even closed my Wells Fargo account because of the treatment (or lack of it) that we received from them. I will continue to wahoo wamu and hope that everything works out well!

This is a sensationalist media fed witch hunt. As of last week, WAMU had $50 billion in liquidity, an over $120 billion deposit base, and the write off for the next quarter will be less than they originally projected. If the media were to shut down all the "Is WAMU next?" rhetoric, WAMU will easily weather the storm, and be back in the black in 2 years. However, since the media likes the story (and news is entertainment), they will scare the out of everyone, then see if they can run the bank out of business. It's a very sad pack mentality that may end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy. If influential people in government or media could step in and be a calming influence, WAMU will be able to weather the storm. 99% of the articles that are asking if WAMU is next make no reference to actual numbers, or to logic.

WaMu's possibile failure has alot to do with customer service at the front end as well as the back side. Approving home loans too families that could never repay, created this mess. It is sad that many are losing their American Dream.

I feel that our country has failed to educate the graduates out of High School on the importance of finances. Truth be told unless you take control of your money whatever the amount you will always have problems. That is true for the rich as well as the poor. You don't hear about the rich because they have more to waste away and the earning compinsate the losses for some time.

When buying a home and you have a down payment you should always have atleast 10k for the EMERGENY FUND for home repairs, fees, etc.

That's All!

wamu is refusing to give me my account number after a deposit of 50,000.00 and has advised me the branch does not have 50,000.00 cash to pay me since i want to close this account. if i even can without an account number. they keep saying the number is in the mail.....would you believe them? I asked totalk with a manager and was advised the manager is an administrative position and they do not tali with customers.

wamu is the best bank on the planet.some of the people here on this blog obviously don't understand banking.My suggestion is expect the stock price to rise in the month of jan.,after the election.

This has nothing to do with that trivial mistake they made on your credit card statement or because they provided poor customer service on your personal checking account. Their problem lies squarely on billions of dollars of exposure to bad home loans, not customer service.

I am a WaMu employee (and by the way IT IS WAMU not washington mutual...read the paper!) and quite frankly we aren't that worried around here. WaMu is a strong company and there is not one bank right now that is not in hot water. I'm sure we will be fine and if we do go under, God is in control. As far as all the haters go. BITE ME! you're just pissed because we didn't refund your 23 overdraft fees when you went on your shopping spree. Learn how to use a checking account and stop crying!

I have been a Wamu customer since the age of 16yrs. Ever since I could work I decided to open my account with them. People seem to always listen to rumors instead of reading and get knowledge of what's really happening. I have faith that they will come back strong from all of this financial crisis in the country. We can't really wish anyone bad because we had one bad experience, we grow from our mistakes and now we know that the reason why our country is going what we're going threw is because we made a mistake in choosing our president 8yrs ago.

I've been with WAMU for 2 years and I love this bank. The lobby hours are great. The people are great. I don't what you are talking about, the fees ate your $100.00 savings account. Both my savings and checking are free, NO fees, not even for checks.
A bank that needs a serious reality check, is Bank America. I HATE that bank
I wouldn't take a crap in that bank.

I have had great luck with B of A though I am concerned about the future. I do not get any hassle if there is a problem. They treat me very good and help me save money everyday in to my savings. I am not rich and have less than 10k with them. They do not have fees every time you turn around. That is my experience.

At least WaMu isn't part of the bailout. It seems they are part of the same self destructive tendency of Wall Street. My neighbors and I have pretty good credit. I held out for a fixed loan and my next door neighbors got one for 2% less with an adjustable. When their loan was sold to WaMu, their rate jumped up 2% right away (which is probably why it was an attractive purchase once the LIBOR changed). Then it gradually went up another 4%. And then to top it all off, WaMu sent an offer for new mortgages at a lower rate, from a separate department. Well my neighbors refinanced and WaMu lost that loan. But what would have happened if my neighbors couldn't refinance? WaMu would be stuck with their failing loan. Multiply by thousands all of the good loans refinancing away, and all the bad ones sticking around. If Wall Street could have done basic math and refinance their own loans at mitigatingly lower rate, the melt down would be theoretical instead of seeming like doomsday.

@ Fatesrider : it's stipulated in the Master Account Agreement , the documents you signed first before you completely opened the account, all the terms and conditions specially the daily maintaining balance of savings account. You should have read and known it first. It's should be your major responsibility.

be a responsible with all your accounts. it's not the bank. it's you.