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wamu
WaMu Tells You To Stop Paying Your Mortgage And Apply For Help, Then Forecloses On You
WaMu, despite all their big talk about helping homeowners avoid foreclosure, is apparently too overwhelmed with a tsunami of defaulted loans to call their customers back, let alone help them stay in their homes. Meet Lori and Mark Pestana. They have a $275,000 fixed rate mortgage with WaMu as their servicer. In August 2007, the Pestanas could not make a payment on their loan. They considered dipping into their retirement savings, but WaMu's website offered an alternative: More »
washington mutual
With all the focus on the girl rocketing across the desert in a supersonic purple dildo, Washington Mutual forgot to mention one thing. When you sign up for a new account with them online instead of in person, be prepared to be treated like a criminal at every turn. Here's Brett's story of why he and his partner don't bank with WaMu, and never will again...
More »
WaMu Online Banking Treats You Like A Criminal
With all the focus on the girl rocketing across the desert in a supersonic purple dildo, Washington Mutual forgot to mention one thing. When you sign up for a new account with them online instead of in person, be prepared to be treated like a criminal at every turn. Here's Brett's story of why he and his partner don't bank with WaMu, and never will again...
More »
IndyMac
Banks Put 8-Week Hold On IndyMac Checks
People who got their money from IndyMac are facing new challenges as other banks put extended holds on releasing the funds when the checks are deposited. WaMu is putting 8-week holds on the checks. Wells Fargo is putting holds on amounts over $5,000. If you deposit more than that, Wells Fargo will only let you have access to the first $5,000. The Office of Thrift Supervision is looking into whether this is ok or not. Good, we needed something like this, that panic wasn't looking frothy enough.
Waits improve at IndyMac bank branches [LAT] (Thanks to Kathy!)
(Photo: zoliblog)
wamu
WaMu: "It Is Not My Problem If You Did Not Plan To Pay Your Bills On Time"
WaMu goes out of its way to convince you that it is staffed by friendly, outgoing people who want to help you if something goes wrong. Their "About" page on the WaMu website says: "We’re informal, friendly and fun. We take our customers’ money seriously, but not ourselves." We suspect that reader Drew would disagree with the whole "friendly" part of that sentence. He arrived home a day late from a business trip to Europe and was in a rush to pay his rent before it was due. He made it to the WaMu branch 5 minutes before it closed, but it was already locked. More »
call kerry killinger
Reach Washington Mutual Executive Customer Service
Rosalva Alvarez
rosalva.alvarez@wamu.net
1-800-225-5497, option 1, option1, extension 467
Fax: (206) 965-3082
Use this after normal customer service fails. Be nice, ready to state your case in 1-2 sentences, and read this post on dealing with executive customer service first.
(Photo: Whatsername)
confessions
Another Washington Mutual insider has stepped forward with a slew of tips to help save your ass from overdraft fees, check deposit holds, and talking to Filipino bankers. Details, inside...
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WaMu Banker Confessions, Part Two
Another Washington Mutual insider has stepped forward with a slew of tips to help save your ass from overdraft fees, check deposit holds, and talking to Filipino bankers. Details, inside...
More »
success stories
Mother Saves Family From WaMu Foreclosure With Consumerist's Executive Contact Info
Arlene got behind on her mortgage payments and had been trying for 6 months to contact her lender, Washington Mutual, to see if they could work out a deal. All she found was disconnections, non-returned phone calls, contradictory information, and no answers. After reading my article in Reader's Digest about ways to get customer satisfaction she sent me an email. She was ready to try the "town crier" method, where you stand outside the business passing out copies of your complaint letter, but we gave her some executive contact info to try first before wasting any money at Kinko's. Arlene says that thanks to the phone numbers we gave her, "They are going to suspend the foreclosure for 60 days and work with me on the payments for a set period of time which is all I ever wanted them to do." Once again, the almighty power of executive customer service has been revealed. Arlene's original email, inside... More »
washington mutual
Hate Outsourced Bankers? Just Ask For A US One
Loathe the outsourced customer service reps on the Washington Mutual phone lines? Just ask for a US-banker, says one WaMu insider: More »
complaints
WaMu Doesn't Care You Could Be Stranded In Himalayas With No Money
Lila got her Washington Mutual debit card pickpocketed while traveling in India. Naturally, her account was drained. She filed a fraud report with Washington Mutual and a got a temporary credit issued on the account while the case was investigated. Less than 3 days later, the credit was reversed without warning. It's not WaMu's policy to reverse provisional credits in these matters before 30 days have passed to investigate, and not without warning. None of the various reps and fraud personal could explain why this happened, nor could they give her her money back, nor could they connect her with anyone who would or could do anything. Supervisors are mysteriously never around. It's a good thing she already had some Rupees in hand when the theft occured, or Lila could have been stranded in the Himalayas while WaMu reps were busy playing Snood. Her complaint letter, and our advice on how to be more effective, inside... More »
follow-ups
WaMu Backs Down, Returns The $1500 To Bill's Bank Account
Bill, whose small business checking account had been inappropriately drafted $1500, sent us the following email late last night:
More »After another battle with a branch manager today—who insisted that money couldn't be returned and that I needed to fill out a fraud report—I went over her head. After a heated, uh, discussion, the main downtown Seattle branch put the $1,500 back in my business checking account. The $7 fee was refunded a few hours later.
Some bad PR in Consumerist no doubt helped. Thank you!
banking
WaMu Presents Random $1500 Check On Someone Else's Account, Then Calls It Fraud
[Update: WaMu has returned the money.] Bill's small business account was hit with a $1500 check written by an unrelated third party to another third party—both completely unconnected with his account. He was also penalized with an insufficient funds fee, although the money was debited from his account. Now WaMu's saying they have to investigate for fraud before they can return Bill's fees. More »
weird fees
Customer Gets Slapped With "Excessive Activity" Fee For Messing With Savings Account Too Much
John found himself the proud father of a $10 fine from WaMu this morning because he exceeded 6 transfers from his savings account during a single billing period. When he called in to find out why this happened, he was told it was a federal regulation: "The representative from Wamu said there was nothing she could do and I need to better monitor my account. Honestly I just want to know if anyone else has had this problem?" It's a real regulation, John, but banks don't have to charge a fine—they can also simply warn you or not allow the seventh transaction—but then they wouldn't get to make another $10 off of you. More »
complaints
It Takes Two Subpoenas And A Contempt Threat To Get A Response From WaMu
Washington Mutual will give you a copy of the check that you've been requesting for a year, but first you will need to subpoena them twice and attempt to have them held in contempt of court. That's what one reader experienced when her employer, a law firm, needed a document from the megabank. As she puts it: "If a law firm with the power of a subpoena behind them can't get WaMu to cough up a document in a timely manner without a massive amount of headache, I'd hate to see what the average consumer has to deal with." More »
bonuses
WaMu Reverses Decision To Exclude Subprime Losses From Executive Bonus Calculations
Activist shareholders forced big changes at a Washington Mutual stockholder's meeting last week, especially the reversal of a much-criticized decision to exclude subprime losses when calculating executive bonus pay. Washington Mutual was one of the lenders cavorting the most eagerly in the refuse trough of subprime lending, and has endured some of the largest losses as a result. Other key shareholder wins included splitting the CEO and Chairman position, and the resignation of several key board members. Nice job, activist shareholders, way to wake the hell up long after the damage was done.
Shareholders Score at WaMu [Business Week]
PREVIOUSLY: WaMu Rewrites Executive Bonus Plan To Avoid Subprime Meltdown Responsibility
From a Digg comment on our post about a WaMu branch telling a man saying they didn't have enough money on hand to let him withdraw $4200: "funny because i had the same experience at a Wamu. My wife had trouble cashing a $5000 check and we had to drive around to three branches until finally, after insisting continuously, that they finally cashed it!"
run on the bank
WaMu: Sorry We Don't Have Your $4200 In Cash, Want A Check?
Maybe we're crazy but $4200 doesn't seem like too much money to withdraw in cash at a branch bank, especially if you give them 24 hours notice. Apparently, that large of a withdrawal leaves WaMu all tapped out. Is WaMu really that short on capital reserves? More »
recession watch
WaMu announced today that they lost $1.14 billion in the first-quarter and CEO Kerry Killinger said that nothing of this scale had happened "since the Great Depression." Comforting!
(Photo:Maulleigh)
WaMu CEO Compares Mortgage Meltdown To The Great Depression
WaMu announced today that they lost $1.14 billion in the first-quarter and CEO Kerry Killinger said that nothing of this scale had happened "since the Great Depression." Comforting!"Nothing of this scale has happened since the Great Depression," Chief Executive Kerry Killinger said at WaMu's annual meeting. "This is the toughest credit cycle I have seen in my years in the industry."WaMu says it will cut 3,000 more jobs, including that of Mary Pugh, chair of their finance committee who "had been fiercely criticized for failing to protect Washington Mutual from overexposure to subprime and other risky mortgages," according to Reuters. A Loss and a Shake-up at Washington Mutual [NYT]
(Photo:Maulleigh)
