Overdraft protection woes

Miguel writes:

“After falling on some financial hard times my checking account was wavering
in the lower numbers, and was consistently overdrafting. I was getting hit
by nearly $300 per week in overdraft fees, so after searching online I found
that you could “opt out” of their overdraft protection service by calling
them and requesting its removal. I read that people had gone to their banks
to request its removal but had been told that they needed to call the number
on the back of their debit cards in order for it to be done, and now I know
why.

On 10/9/08 I called and specifically opted out of my overdraft protection
service, and was told that it would take up to 7 business days to take
effect. I complained that it should not take that long because I would
incur a lot of overdraft fees during that time, and they stated that it was
the amount of time necessary, etc… Today on 10/22/08, 9 business days
later, I check my account and it’s once again in the negative, it looks like
I’m about to get hit with 3 more overdraft fees totaling $99. I once again
called their service number and here’s what I was told “Our records show
that you requested a stop on your automatic savings plan, we don’t have any
records showing that you cancelled your courtesy payment protection plan.”
Now, had I done this in person I would have received something in writing at
the bank, it’s fairly obvious that they make you call so that they can pull
this kind of trickery and make it a “your word against theirs” kind of
thing. So now I have to once again cancel my payment protection plan, but
this time I’m having them do it at the bank when I go there later today.
I’ll probably still get socked with the overdraft fees, and need to wait
another set amount of business days before this one goes into effect, within
that time I’ll be opening an account at Bank of America which at the very
least has fees that are $10 lower than this scam bank.

As a reference to others out there that probably got scammed on this one as
well, I believe that regardless of their service contract that I have
sufficient proof to file a small claims report should they refuse to fund my
overdraft fees this time around. Small claims courts work very differently
in terms of evidence, and tend to find things like this extremely suspicious
and may generally rule in your favor. Simply go there with a written
transcript of your conversation, along with an explanation that why would
you in your right mind cancel an automatic savings plan that would not be
able to overdraw your account when you’re getting socked with $300 of
overdraft fees a week. Generally a judge would look at it this way: which
person or business has the most to gain by causing this situation?”

Peter’s Note

I never knew you could opt out of overdraft protection. Good info. Here is an interesting article on overdraft protection.

Small consolation

From the small consolation department: WaMu customers can now use Chase ATMs for free. (article)

WaMu & predatory lending

Carole writes:

“I have had a terrible experience with WAMU – September 2007 my husband became unexpectedly and totally disabled and we lost his income overnight. We had, as most Americans do, credit card debt. We had a WAMU credit card along with several other cards, gas card, store cards, Wells Fargo etc. We did not want to file for bankruptcy we wanted to pay what we owed but we needed our interest rate reduced and a repayment schedule we could live with. We decided the best course for us was a non-profit credit counseling service. All of our creditors were very cooperative and understood our situation EXCEPT WAMU. WAMU would not work with the non-profit group, they would not work with me, they increased our interest rate to 33% and started tacking on late fees and over the limit fees. I contacted them on numerous occasions to try and work something out, the President of the Non-Profit Counselingng Service tried to talk to them and they would not work with them either. All of this has been documented. I had even written to my Congressman about WAMU. I have been paying our other creditors on time every month since December 2007 with no problems and our balances have been going down and the creditors are getting their money. WAMU has done nothing except added more & more charges to this account. Now, I don’t know who to pay and what, I have not received a bill since August.”

Dirty rotten scoundrels

Amy writes:

“First, I love that you have created a site like this, it’s the perfect place to vent AND serves a warning to people that haven’t yet been sucked in by WaMu’s claims.

I am a 25 year old female that works full time. I opened a credit card a few years ago with Providian. I loved the card, never had any problems, and was earning great rewards. Then Providian was bought out by WaMu. Up goes the limit (not by my request). Up goes the interest rate. Up goes the minimum payment.

Then, about a year ago, I made a payment using the bill pay service that is offered on their web site. I was told by the site that the payment would clear and be on time! Great, right? So I go out of town for the weekend. As I try to pay for my hotel, my credit card is declined. What? So I call WaMu. Well, my payment was one day late. And they lowered my limit to $1.00 above my balance. And charged me a late fee. Which put me over the limit, so I was charged one of those fees as well. And it was downhill from there.

Now, I’m over the limit (about $300, all in fees) and 46 days past due. And all WaMu can offer me is a 4 month payment plan. For 4 months they will automatically deduct $230 (that I don’t have, as I have lost my second job due to the decline of the economy) and the interest rate will be lowered to 14%. After the 4 months is over my interest rate will return to what it is now (I actually have no idea) and I will not be able to enter in to this type of plan for 12 months. Not an option.

I bet you’re wondering how I don’t know my interest rate. Well, there is no way to find out what you rate is on the website. I recently moved and changed my address through the site. Somehow, all my mail from WaMu (and WaMu only) is being returned even though I have verified my address over the phone twice. And everytime I ask over the phone what my rate is I get the run around… “Oh, I’m on the wrong screen, let’s just finish up what we’re doing here and I’ll pull it up.” They never seem to finish what they’re doing on that screen…

Back to the 4 month payment plan. I called once and was told they did offer long term payment plans but Icouldn’t commit to a dollar amount for a payment that day, so I called back 2 business days later. Then I was told that they don’t offer any kind of long term payment plan and was offered the 4 month plan. I was unwilling to commit to this, so I told Maria that I would consult with my financial advisor (aka my Dad! haha…) and call back. She said, “Well Miss Amy, I just want to let you know that the offers change every day and if you don’t agree to this today, you may not be able to get this great offer. ??? I told her that this practive seemed a bit shady to me… Well, she cut me off before I could finish my sentence and I ended up hanging up on her shortly after.

This is my problem: I want to pay back the debt that I have created. Washington Mutual does not want to help me do that, so my only other option seems to be just not paying it and paying that extra money on my other credit cards. Let them take me to collections. I can show a judge that I offered to pay money but they were unwilling to allow me to close my account and pay it off. By the way, I did this with my Bank Of America card and the experience was excellent! My account is closed, the payment is $16 lower than my minimum payment was before, and they lowered by APR to 10.25% from 28% without me even asking them to! Has anyone had any luck with WaMu, or should I wait and see if they will take me to court over $5500 on a credit card?

Thanks for reading my story,
Amy S.”

(My response)

Hi Amy,

I am equally shocked and not at all surprised that they would (a) lower your limit to $1 above your balance because you are late, (b) charge you a
late fee, and (c) charge you an over balance fee. I’ll be that somewhere in the find print they give themselves the right to do exactly that.

If you want to know why credit card companies do this, watch this video:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/view/

If the billpay thing that started this all is truly their fault, I would continue to call their customer service asking for managers and such and demand
that they accept responsibility for the mess and reverse all the charges. Do you have any printouts or email confirmation that can back your
story up? You could also try talking to their corporate customer satisfaction department; they were initially helpful when I contacted them. You
never know. Try calling their switchboard at (206) 461-2000 to find that department.

Incidentally, when I searched google for “washington mutual customer satisfaction department” my site was the first listing. Got a smile out of that one. 🙂

If that doesn’t work, I would just keep hammering on them for a more workable payment plan; keep asking for someone that has the authority to
do it if the person you are talking to says they don’t.

The danger with just letting them take you to collections is that WaMu will amend your credit report with some nasty information. It takes a long
time for that stuff to get off in my experience.

Good luck!

Peter

More random interest rate increases

Christine writes:

“Boy am I angry right now. I am having the same problems with WaMu that everyone else seems to be having.

I too have been a loyal customer for 2 years and have always paid my bills ontime. I take pride in having perfect credit. During the past 2 months my APR has kept going up! In July my APR was 13.99%. My August bill arrived with a 23.99% APR. My September bill was 25.99%. My bill was 193.00. Of that, 135.00 was finance charges! I called WaMu’s customer service and all they said was that there was nothing they could do because there was a change in the terms and they were sorry for the inconvenience. I asked to speak with a manager and he also told me the same story. I asked him if WaMu rewards their on-time paying customers by raising their rates to ridiculous levels. All he said is that they sent me a letter regarding this change and that they will send me another one. I got absolutely nowhere with them. I am in the process right now of applying for other cards so that I can transfer the balance and cancel my card with WaMu. I will never do business with them again and I urge others not too either.

The manager that I spoke with said that they considered me more of a risk to pay my bill because I have a high balance on my card. I owe 5,000 on my card. I also make 65,000+ per year. I told him that was ridiculous. I have never been late on my payments. Also I don’t charge on this card. I only pay it down. That is probably why they are raising my rates. I asked him why they would raise the rates on someone because they thought they might be a risk. He said, “because that is what WaMu does”. So, if WaMu considers you more of a risk to pay your bills because you carry a high balance, aren’t they making you more of a risk by making your payments higher????? Sounds like they are setting you up to fail. So anyone who has a WaMu credit card, be forewarned!!! Don’t make any purchases on your card. If you do, you will be considered more of a payment risk because your balance is higher. And if WaMu considers you more of a risk….they will raise your rates! I DON’T GET IT!!!!”

Update:

“9/16/08

I have been a Washington Mutual Customer for almost two years. I had a bit of bad luck and had some monetary problems. My account with them did go into the negative. But I did go in to take care of on 9-15-08 with $7,495.00.

I lost my job and cashed out my 401k account. I took it to Washington Mutual Bank in the Melbourne Square Mall location in Melbourne, Florida on 9-15-08. They originally told me there would be an 11 day hold. I explained I was out of work and really needed to get some bills paid. The check was drawn on a check from Chase Manhattan Bank. They told me they might be able to help me. I got the number from Pay Chex and gave the teller Melba the phone. The paychex employee was able to give her the number to call and verify funds. The manager came over and took the hold off the account. I walked out of the bank with an AVAILABLE balance of $2,750.12 in checking and $4000.00 in savings.

I went home and paid $739.00 to Honda, $105.00 to Geico and $209.00 to T-Mobile plus a check written today for $189.00 none of which WAMU will pay. I was informed when I went into the bank today that my account was froze due to the check. They will not pay the bills that I paid last night online and will not give me money back. Now they are claiming the check has not gone through even though yesterday they verified funds and lifted the hold.

I was also told as of 9-29 my account was going to be closed. I was not going to have anyway of knowing that until a “letter” they would send out came to me. In the meantime I would have been writing check and paying bills and none would be paid. I was also told that WAMU is possibly going bankrupt? Will I ever be able to retrieve funds?

I contacted their corporate office and was told that the branch had no way of knowing that they would be freezing my account. My argument there was that they should have left the hold on then or pay what I paid online on 9-15-08 when they told me I had the money available and they refuse to help me. Meanwhile I will be racking up NSF fees to the bills I have paid.

9/18/08

I wanted to add some more to my story. I called WAMU yesterday to see if they have taken the hold off my check and was told they told me I could call myself because they did not want to deal with it. This is the Melbourne Square Branch, Melbourne, FL. I was given this number to call 866-513-9186 and spoke to a lady named Lynn. First she informed me the manager should have never taken the hold off the check even though they verified funds with Chase Manhattan on my 401k check. She also informed me it could be a fraudulent check. Also my account was being investigated because I had not had any large deposits made and then I make one for $7495.00. I explained for the 100th time I AM OUT OF WORK AND CASHED OUT MY 401K. She said their are no notes there. I told the branch people my whole story none of which they notated. So then she goes on to tell me its suspicious that I make this large deposit and then put a large amount in savings- HELLO is that not what the bank is for????

So I said seems how you just told me your manager in that branch made a mistake I said you need to pay for the bills I paid because I have the receipts showing that I had money in the bank. Still said no. Meanwhile I have to play clean up crew and call all my debtors and tell them this long drawn out story. So now I have been accused of depositing a fraudulent check, its suspicious because I dont make large deposits and I put money in savings.

I call a different branch today on 9-18 and I am told they are no holds money is available and I can come close account out. I get there and they tell me sorry this branch made a mistake because they did not see the notes regarding my account. They called Chase again and verified the funds but wont release the money but shows I have $4008 in savings and $2,396 in checking but I cant close account or even withdraw a dollar for that matter. I was told sorry that Melbourne branch made a mistake the manager never should have done that and sorry our branch told you that you could come in and close account. SO I left there again with nothing. Also another note of interest my account was supposed to be frozen so that would mean they would not pay anything- well they paid Tmobile and Geico. I asked why did they pay thought this money was not available? She said it must have been because on Monday when I left the money was available but I paid my car payment that night and they are not paying that one.

After all this she said I have to call Chase myself and have them write on Chase letterhead that the funds have cleared and provide a point of contact and then they will let me close my account and get my money. She then had the audacity to ask if she could get this cleared up would I keep my account with them—— I said you must be kidding right? Stay far away from this bank they dont know their heads from a hole in the ground!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

9/23/08

I was finally able to get my money out of that building they call a “bank”.

Funny thing though I closed my account myself on 9-20 and I get a letter in the mail yesterday telling me that they are closing my account on 9-29 and any remaining funds would be mailed to me. The thing that sucks about that is imagine if I had been writing checks since 9-15 when I deposited that large check and never got the letter. The postal service is not perfect. They would not have paid any of my bills. Then yesterday I get a new debit card in the mail. They have some real rocket scientists working there!!!”

Free checking isn’t free

A reader writes:

“I got a “free” wamu checking account and a savings account. They keep charging me fees month after month. This month’s ATM fees on the savings is $10! for 2 transactions! Then they take a $5 monthly account fee! WTF! I want to DTMFA. I wrote them two nasty emails and have yet to get a response. I hate this bank with a passion. Does a good bank that has truly free checking and savings without ATM fees exist? They are charging me for using my effing money. What bullsh*t is that? American capitalism bullsh*t! I’m so fed up I wnat to hurt someone and it just might be them. Not physically, ofcourse but there must be some course of action with national banking regulators or is that a private corporation run within our government like the US Postal Service or the Federal Reserve. I’m contacting the Dept. of Commerce and see what they have to say.”

Lies, lies, and more lies

Andie writes:

“Washington Mutual is by far the worst bank I’ve ever dealt with.

On Friday I deposited my check. They put a hold on it AGAIN. I got a letter stating that I could write checks or withdraw against the balance. So, I checked my account yesterday evening, and noticed I had 6 non-sufficient funds charges assessed! that’s $198!!! Unbelievable!! I called the to talk to someone, asked to speak to a supervisor, was transferred after 10 minutes of waiting. The Rep. I spoke to assured me that he would reverse ALL of the charges and that it was probably just the computer system updating too fast or some such nonsense answer. So, thinking that everything was alright, I took his word for truth and waited to check my account in the morning.

When I checked my account again, all 6 charges were still there. I called the customer service line again and was told that no notation was made stating the charges were going to be removed, and that they couldn’t do that. I was transferred to a supervisor again, and was told at most they could remove one or two charges, and then only if a manager approved it. I was blatantly lied to by the first supervisor, no doubt to pawn off the problem so he didn’t have to deal with me. I was polite the first time around, but I have become increasingly annoyed. Not only will I be charged 200 dollars for the NSF charges, but whatever checks that bounce because of this are going to incur fees as well. To top it off, I had just submitted the direct deposit form to my job, and that will be taking effect this pay period. So I can’t close my account, unless I pay the “outstanding fees” and unless I’m willing to wait another two weeks for my paycheck to be rerouted into a voucher.

I have only been with Washington Mutual for a year now, and this entire year has been full of unpleasant experiences, but this one by far takes the cake.”

More interest rate shenanigans

Rich writes:

“Have a wamu card for over 2 years. Never late or over my limit. Paid before the due date and more than the minimum. Out of nowhere, wamu ups my card to 29.99%. My original monthly payments were $189.00. Now they wanted $279.00.
I called wamu credit card “customer service.” After waiting on hold for someone to pick up after 30 minutes, a rep gives me a total run around. I demand to speak to a supervisor. He than gives me a run around and can’t answer my questions. He tells me to hold on. Click, he hangs up on me. This call took 45 minutes of my time.

I go ahead and make the large payment. The next month they raise the minimum again. I than stopped paying the card. I did report them to the proper authorities, including my state rep. office.

The credit card companies that are pulling this are the ones that have lost hard on the mortgages. This is not my only credit card and to be fair, other cards, such as BOA are pulling this as well. That was their fault and they are sticking it to the credit card holders to make up for their losses.

This whole mess has also caused a hugh problem for me and my family on top of the costs of living.”