Even the Los Angeles Times is jumping onto the dump-your-big-bank bandwagon with an article in Saturday’s business section:
Dumping your big bank? How to choose a new one
By E. Scott Reckard, Los Angeles TimesJune 26, 2010 | 7:10 p.m.
Mark and Roberta Maxwell had been zapped by fees for overdrawing funds and using the wrong ATM, and they felt their bank, the former Washington Mutual, had lost its personal touch since a takeover by Chase.
Adding insult to injury, Roberta said, they had to pay a special fee for depositing more than $5,000 in cash to their small-business account in a single month — something they might do again because Mark, a saxophone player, earns much of his living selling his smooth-jazz CDs at street fairs.
read more …
This news story from Wisconsin about $500,000 in unclaimed property funds deposited with the state’s unclaimed property account by the FDIC has me wondering if there are more such unclaimed property coffers for other states.
If you want to check for unclaimed property from WaMu, or of any kind, start your search at unclaimed.org.
Update: I came across a similar notice for Oregon, which contains a little more information on why the FDIC turned over unclaimed property from WaMu to states’ unclaimed property accounts when WaMu was seized and sold to JP Morgan Chase:
Washington Mutual (WaMu) went into receivership with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Chase is managing the active WaMu accounts but the FDIC is responsible for the insured, inactive accounts that existed at the time WaMu went into receivership.
The FDIC is handling only those accounts that appeared to be inactive – i.e., there was no record of a deposit, withdrawal or other positive contact with the account holder for at least three years.
Federal law required WaMu/Chase customers to acknowledge the account or it would be turned over to the FDIC.
FDIC resources:
Chase recently sent a letter to inactive WaMu account holders that said: “Over the past year, we have worked hard to be your financial partner and have made multiple attempts to contact you regarding your unclaimed former Washington Mutual deposit account(s). According to our records, as of March 25, 2010, you had one or more former WaMu deposit account(s) that were not claimed. As a result, we were required by the FDIC to close your account(s) and return those funds to the FDIC.”
The FDIC forwards inactive and dormant accounts to the state of the owner’s last known address according to the bank records.
The FDIC has sent the Department of State Lands/Unclaimed Property Section about 27,000 accounts, and we hope to have all the names listed in the online database by July or early August. People are encouraged to wait until their name is on our Web site, and send in the claim that is generated online.
It may take up to 90 days for claims to be processed.
The state of Oregon will have custody of the deposits for ten years, during which time we will treat the deposits as unclaimed property. After ten years, the money must be returned to the FDIC.
All unclaimed property is held in the Common School Fund, a trust fund for Oregon schools. Earnings from the fund are distributed to K-12 public school districts twice a year. In 2010, schools will receive $50.4 million.
Update: Now Nevada has chimed in with a press release.
This handy guide from The Consumerist will help you find free checking in a world where more and more big banks are likely to do away with their free checking (or what they claimed was free checking but often wasn’t) to make up for their lost fee stream due to changes in regulation.
It has been quite an education blogging on the badness of Washington Mutual and Chase Bank over the last five years. I am amazed at the number of negative experiences, pitfalls, and amount of bad behavior of those two banks. While many banks seem to have a business model based more on tricking you than serving you, the success of that model depends heavily on the ignorance of consumers and their continued tendency to make uninformed and simply bad choices.
An article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday (The New Bank Fees: How to Fight Back) tells us what is on the horizon: More fees whose details are not spelled out prominently, but hidden in the mundane paperwork we receive from from our banks.
The sad thing is, going from bank victim to savvy customer is not that difficult.
The first and foremost thing you can do to become a better bank customer is to read everything you get from your bank. Personally, I scan and save copies of all paperwork I receive, including and especially that paperwork which spells out the terms and conditions of my account. This allows me to not only know what conditions I am bound by, but also see how they’ve changed over time. Reading my bank paperwork can easily catch changes in minimum required payment, due date, and interest rate, all things that can trip customers up. Reading over all of your paperwork also includes reviewing all charges on your account to identify possible fraud early and contacting your bank if you see anything that doesn’t look right.
Second, know what your options are. If your bank is treating you like they don’t really value you as a customer, shop around for a better alternative. If you bank with one of the big banks like Chase, try looking at credit unions, which Consumer Reports says are a better choice for most banking needs, including and especially credit cards. Services like bankrate.com do a pretty good job of comparing different banks and credit card companies making it easy for you to find the best deal.
Lastly, come on people, stop borrowing more than you can afford to pay back. That is not the way to financial freedom and becoming too debt heavy causes stress and reduces your ability to easily switch banks and credit card companies to get a better deal. If you use a credit card, only spend as much on it as you can afford to pay off every month.
About six months ago, we installed a spam-wall on our corporate email server. Looking through the rosters of the quarantined spam-mail sometimes provides interesting information. For instance, a lot of spam email is sent pretending to be from Chase bank, and there has been another recent outbreak of these. But another type of Chase spam I’ve found has to do with preying on people that are burried by their credit card debt. Here is what one email looks like:
Angry, frustrated consumers with large balances with card issuers
like Chase, Capital One, Citibank and others are pursuing settlement
offers through popular new bailout programs (click here).
And another
Rising credt card defaults and continuing bank struggles means
more flexible relief options for many frustrated consumers. If you
could benefit from a payment reduction or a balance settlement
offer (click here) new bailout-type options are yielding results
of 40 cents on the dollar and less for many.
The point is, don’t bother with offers like these. There are WAY many more uncouth credit counseling firms out there than there are respectable ones. If you need help, try Yelp or the BBB to find a respectable credit counseling firm.
The other point is, don’t trust any mail that says it is from Chase, if you are a Chase customer. NEVER click links in any email, unless you REALLY REALLY trust the source and are expecting the email. Always type in URLs yourself. It is very easy for a spammer to make a link say one thing but go somewhere else.
Rumor has it that if you make a deposit at a Chase branch through the drive through (or in branch?), there will be less of a hold placed on it than if you do the deposit through the ATM.
According to this blog, Chase is the first bank with a native iPad app, basically a stretched out version of its iPhone banking app.
I suppose this would be something that Chase actually did right, although I haven’t tried either their iPad or iPhone app, because I don’t bank at Chase anymore, so I can’t say whether their apps are actually worthwhile.
So what was up with their gift buying iPhone app?
The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act provides guidelines that must be followed in the settlement of a real estate transaction, including and especially loans. If you feel that you have been mistreated by Chase with respect to the closing of your loan with them, you can read about RESPA here and read about how to file a RESPA violation complaint here.
Tips | admin June 27, 2010 | 
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