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I am in the process of closing my WAMU account. Why? Because they are a huge mega-bank and have completely lost their uniqueness and customer service. Talk about totally unsatisfied. Here's a good story:
I opened a savings account with them 2 yrs ago, put a bunch of money in there, and then used that money over a couple months to pay off bills, buy things, etc. The account dwindled to about $40. That $40 sat there for over a year and a half, doing nothing but earning the measly interest they pay. Recently, I was getting ready to go out of town on a 4 day weekend, and decided to balance my checking acct before I left. To my dismay, my balance was scary low, so I had the bright idea of transfering that $40 over to my checking just to give me a titch more padding. I open up my savings account online, only to see that it is now in the negative. What?! I look closer. Since May, they've been charging me a service fee of $10 a month for not maintaining a minimum balance. There was no warning, no email, no letter explaining that this was going to start happening.
I just got a letter from them stating that my account is now in the negative and that they will report me to credit agencies if I don't make a deposit soon.
Unbelievable.
I just got a letter from them stating that my account is now in the negative and that they will report me to credit agencies if I don't make a deposit soon.
Unbelievable.
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Inappropriate?Lame! I know it's really hard on them to have everyone's saving deposits lying around, but I don't think banks should be allowed to charge for this.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?To their credit, they did reverse all the charges. I closed the savings account and moved my meager $40 to a checking account.
I still closed all my accounts with them. They lost me as a customer forever with that little trick. -
Inappropriate?When I worked for WAMU, and the bank they bought Great Western, we were always told that fees are what often makes the difference.
When I was working for Great Western, based in Los Angeles, they even started an expansion into Watts with the stated position that the branches would be profitable since poor people tend to have lots of overdrafts.
WAMU was different five years ago. They were good to the employees and morale was high. Now they've moved to a model of making the employees afraid that they will those their job and morale has plummeted. I can count something around 20% of the people that were in my department resigning or retiring because of the negative attitude that the company has adopted towards workers. Two out of four of my first level of management resigned in protest over changes in employee reviews (they forced managers to submit failing reviews regardless of employee performance).
I’m sick of WAMU employee policy
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this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Thanks for sharing your experience, campbay. It's always interesting to hear an inside perspective. Actually makes me glad I chose Citibank over WaMu. Not that they're any better but at least they don't put on the guise of being a warm & fuzzy bank.
I’m sad when companies go down hill like this and proift margins take precendence over people
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Inappropriate?Their 'new' name -WaMu -- is meant to reflect their 'friendly, hometown bank' imagery. Here's a quote from their website...
"You’ll know it right away: We’re really not like other banks.
We’re informal, friendly and fun. We take our customers’ money seriously, but not ourselves. We even call ourselves by a fun name that started out as a nickname years ago: WaMu.
We’re the bank for everyday people."
Speaking only for myself, I don't want my bank to be fun. I want my bank to be efficient, courteous and pay high interest rates on their savings products. And charge low rates on their loan products. And not nickel-dime me with bullshit fees.
I can find other places to have fun.
1 person says
this solves the problem
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Inappropriate?Hear! Hear!
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Inappropriate?I had their free checking linked to my savings account. When my checking balance was too low, they closed the account without telling me, charged me fees without telling me, and I literally had to give them cash to pay the fees before I could open a new account.
I’m angry
