Saw this one coming: WaMu (my bank) goes down in flames
Posted on September 26, 2008 7 Comments
Less than five years since opening my accounts with WaMu, the bank is no more. Here’s the message I got when I visited WaMu today:
WaMu Customers, Welcome to JPMorgan Chase!
We’re proud to welcome you to one of the nation’s largest banks; as of September 25, 2008, JPMorgan Chase & Co. has acquired the deposits, loans, and branches of Washington Mutual. Your deposits remain insured by the FDIC and are now also backed by the strength and security of JPMorgan Chase. Our combined company will offer superior banking convenience – over 5,400 branches and 14,000 ATMs in 23 states.
You can read the rest of the “Welcome to Chase” statement here.
Who knows if this is a good thing for the WaMu customers or a bad thing. I really liked banking with WaMu and always thought they had good customer service. When I heard that things weren’t looking good (several months ago), I kept my money in WaMu because I use EFT and direct deposit for the vast majority of my bills, and am basically too busy/lazy to go through the hassle of canceling and changing all my account information.
So now we’ll see what happens. I took out cash last week after Lehman Bros. collapsed, not a ton, just enough for a week, because I figured that WaMu would be sold soon and I wanted to make sure I had some funds to get me through any transfer period. I wonder if I’ll have to buy all new checks, get hit with new fees, etc.
The good news is that all my money at WaMu was FDIC insured, so I still have what little I keep in my checking and emergency funds.
Just another day on the financial roller coaster, I guess…
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September 26th, 2008 @ 7:14 pm
Well, I can comment on both sides of this equation. I’ve had a checking account with Chase for 4 years now and the only problem I ever had was when they put a freeze on my account when I transferred a couple of tens of thousands of dollars into my account to make the down payment on my house. Of course, they also offered to move me into a “high” interest checking account (which was about 0.5% at the time, I believe).
Speaking of that house on which I made a down payment… I actually had to get two loans to avoid getting private mortgage insurance (my lending agent was a stud), and the smaller of the two loans is through WaMu. It’ll be interesting to see what happens now… hopefully just business as usual, but who knows.
September 26th, 2008 @ 7:44 pm
Hi Nicole,
From the Chase Welcome WAMU Web site:
What stays the same?
Continue to bank just as you usually do:
* same account numbers,
* same Washington Mutual name on your account,
* same checks, debit cards, credit cards, deposit slips,
* same online banking website and passwords,
* same branches & ATMs,
* same familiar bankers, and
* same great service!
September 26th, 2008 @ 10:50 pm
I had the same thing happen with one of my credit cards, suddenly I was a Chase customer. It was actually completely seamless, no problems with the transition. Hopefully, you will have smooth sailing as well
September 27th, 2008 @ 6:21 am
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September 29th, 2008 @ 6:51 pm
I was a NatWest customer. It was bought by Fleet and Fleet was bought by BoA. In my experience you’re certainly going to get new fees but everything else will stay the same.
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