WaMu flubs counterfeit bill investigation

Tania writes:

“I recently heard that Wamu decided $400 of my last deposit was counterfeit. Highly unlikely considering the source, an Afex.

(prior to knowing why $400 was missing from my account, when i called i was repeatedly told it was a pending loan payment. I have no loans!)

In the end, I finally found out the issue, and contacted the branch manager who had spotted these ‘fake’ bills. I was told they had passed through the machines in the bank just fine. twice infact. but it wasn’t until they were inspected by a teller that they were deemed fake. When I questioned this, his response was simply “because they are fake”. Unfortunately, there isn’t much I can do to argue what he claims. He told me they were no longer on the premises, that they had been sent to Secret Services who had confirmed they were fake.

Later in the day, I notice the hold on my account is still there for $400, and $400 has also been taken. Meaning my account reads $800 less of what it did 2 days ago. Once again I call, told about the ‘loan payment’ once again, but also told there’s still a hold on my account, which, ‘”he must have forgotten to take off”.
Anyway, I chose to call the secret services. Knowing there’s no remedy if they are fake to get my money back. I at least wanted to be sure they had received the money and this story wasn’t as ridiculous as it sounded. They hadn’t. What they had received was an envelope from the branch with another customer’s money inside. Legitimate money. Which will in time be sent back to her. They were amazingly helpful though and seemed genuinely interested in getting the matter resolved. I’m not sure if anyone in a similar situation has thought to call them, but i hope they do.”

Is WaMu going bankrupt?

This guy thinks so.

WaMu is no help with fraud

Sherry writes:

“Lets start by saying “a friendlier way to bank” Bull-

Let me tell you a story of fraud, March 5 2008 I went to get gas and my debit card was declined? Began to panic called bank and there were pending charges in the amount of $794.00. I live in Las Vegas Nv and the charges were from Ca. I notified the 800 number and was advised that there was nothing I could do to stop the pending transaction I had to wait until the charges processed or dropped off, knowing that these were not my charges I worried all weekend until Monday morning, I went to my branch; were I was advised that they could not help me all they would do is give me a phone number to call the fraud department. Mind you I had already sent 2.5 hrs of phone time trying to reach someone in fraud who would help me. Mind you I an not a rich person just a single mother trying to survive. I spent 10 days with no access to my account, charges racking up daily, nasty overdraft notices still no resolve and no help for the people in charge of my money! Finally I am advised that the bank will graciously give me provisional credit for the fraud but wait: we have the right to reverse this credit. You have no control, no recourse no help from people who are unwilling to take care of their customer.

I have dealt with rude unprofessional banking people since this has begun back in March, now here it is almost July and guess what to add insult to injury now the bank will reverse the provisional credit because I did not respond in the 30 days they requested to a simple form. But I did respond the first time via mail the 2nd by fax, what a crappy way to conduct business, no once has the bank called me to see if all is well or if this was handled correctly. I have been trying to resolve this issue and still I am out $ 794.00 monies I do not have: my account is overdrawn, my life is in turmoil and all they can say is “thank you for banking with Wa-Mu”. My advise to all who bank with Wa Mu take you money and run they are not willing nor able to help in times of crisis, they have no idea how to protect the customer. Not one Phone call yet I have wasted days of my time. Now I am on my way to legal aid to see what help I can gather. I hope no one gets caught up in the Wa Mu way like I did Wa Mu sucks!!!

The story just never ends it has now July 16, my provisional credit has been reversed I cannot close my checking account because it is overdrawn. I have spent a total of 16 day’s that is if you count the hours, I have spent trying to get this issue resolved. This is a horrible experience for anyone to have to deal with it is like you are guilty and the bank has all the power- yet they did nothing to stop the fraud from happening! I still have yet to receive any phone contact initiated by any bank employee yet I have sat on hold for hours! Take your money and run to a real banking institution!”

Us Wamu running out of money?

Reader Liz writes us that WaMu is bouncing her checks for $11,000 despite having over $30,000 in her account. Is WaMu running out of money?

Unnecessary holds

Reader Jeannie writes:

“Ok, here is one for you. I just recently started my account with WAMU about a month ago and I already am having a freakin nightmare.

I deposited my employment check thru the ATM, which, now I know, IS A VERY BAD IDEA! I was given access to $100 of the deposited amount. In addition to my check, I also deposited $200 cash which was my husbands business money. I was not provided with any of the policy information, which is something that this company is suppose to disclose to you when you open your account. I contacted Customer Care and was told by a Rep. that my money was not going to be available until Risk Operations confirms that my check is real and that the funds are really there. Ok, the bank that my check is drawn thru is a local bank. I grew upset and told them that I wanted to talk to Risk Operations. I was then transferred. Mind you, I opened my account online. The lady at Risk Operations said that they had to place a hold on my check until it cleared and that they were even holding the cash part of the deposit as well. Well, I was on my lunch break at the time of this call, which is only 30 minutes long. I told her that I wanted to talk to her Supervisor. She said ok, and placed me on hold…………………….SHE NEVER CAME BACK. I was on hold for 20 minutes before I hung up. I was late for work at that point.

I contacted my husband and found out that they have a lot of problems with ripping their customers off.

I proceeded to call the bank when I got home from work that same day and was told by the Rep. that they can hold my check up to 6 business days. I asked for her Supervisor and was told by him that they will be holding my check for up to 11 days. I hung up.

I called the next day and was told by another Supervisor that there is a 30 day policy on holding checks that were deposited thru the ATM.

I received an email the next morning stating that I had to call Risk Operations to discuss my check. I called them and the lady told me that she will not talk to me because I opened my account online. That there was no way to identify me over the phone. Mind you, a day or two prior, I talked to someone in Risk Operations.

I went to the branch where I deposited the money at and talked to the Branch Manager and she told me that she could only authorize $200 of it and that the rest of my money will be available this upcoming Tuesday. Which is the day that my husband is going into surgery and we need the money for his medications. Also, on top of that, the money that they are holding, is my rent money and my electric and my kids’ birthday money.

I gave up for the day. The next day comes around and I get a notice in the mail. It stated that they will not release any funds until next Thursday.

How WaMu makes money from credit cards

From a reader:

“I love the fact you started a website to let people know how Washington Mutual does business. I recently received a letter from WaMu stating they had reviewed my account (after 7 years of paying on time, staying under the limit and they never reviewed it before) and based on information obtained from my credit report reduced my credit limit to $1.00 more then my current balance with them. The letter actually said they were sending a letter to notify my because I was such a valued card member.

A few weeks later I received my monthly statement to learn they had jacked up my interest rate to 31.99% APR. I was still upset with the original letter but the realization of what the letter didn’t tell me but my monthly statement did really pissed me off.

After several phone calls and getting passed from one CSR to another (when I had specifically asked for a Manager), one of the representatives said it was due to a delinquent account on my credit report. I’m racking my brain to try and think of who I could owe money to. Nothing comes to mind.

I ran a copy of my credit report to learn that my health club had turned my over to collections for $120.00. What? I work out 3 to 4 times a week and you would think if I owed them $120.00 they would stop me when I scan in maybe once in say 6 months.

I go to the health club (it’s workout day anyway) and talk to the Manager. He’s recognizes me as a regular and with a perplexed look on his face says they will figure it out and call me and to enjoy my workout. So, I did.

Well I get the call mid-morning the next day. Someone had transposed a number so they were billing me every month but the money was inadvertently applied to an unidentified account they use when there is a billing problem. They had indeed (in error and admittedly so) turned me over for collection. Well, the health club took immediate action to get the erroneus item removed from my credit report and wrote a letter of explanation to Washington Mutual on my behalf. I wrote an additional letter and mailed them together to Washington Mutual.

It’s been a few weeks so I called them today to see if they had taken any action. They informed they were very sorry but the Correspondence Department had reviewed my request and was unable to restore my account. The lower credit limit (not a big deal) and 31.99% APR (way BIG deal)would remain.

So I’m on my third representative now… You know, I suddenly realized these people speak English (some of them quite well) but they damn sure don’t think in English. All three representatives read me word for word off the script unable to comprehend my point and completely unwilling to do anything.

Finally, they offered to reduce the credit limit to 23% but they would have to close my account. I told them to have it, I had no reason to want to continue a business relationship with an unreasonable business. The part that sucks is they are too stupid to realize they would have made more money on me over the years than they ever will now.”

Nickel and dimed

From a reader:

“I’m not sure if you’re still taking tales of outrage, but here are mine. Individually, they aren’t particularly off-putting. Collectively, they are infuriating.

I have several bank accounts at Washington Mutual, as well as two lines of credit. I also have a business account from which I transfer payments to another Washington Mutual account holder pursuant to a business contract.

This morning, I went to deposit two checks that I wanted to have credited against one of my lines of credit. I have done this in the past and, other than a fee they charge and a 7-day hold, there have been no problems.

Today, they refused to allow either check to serve as payment against my line of credit. The first check was made out to me, and I simply wanted it deposited and applied against the line of credit. They had done this very thing in the past. No can do, according to the manager, it must be deposited to your account and sit there for seven business days before you can use the finds to pay the line of credit. That’s an inconvenience, but they add up: After seven days, I have to physically go back to the bank to have them apply the funds to the line of credit. The reason? You can’t pay off more than $10,000 per day of a line of credit by transferring funds from your bank account to the line of credit unless you do it in person. You can’t call and accomplish this by phone, and you can’t do it over the internet. On top of that, they charge a $30.00 fee when you want to try to pay your line of credit in person. Thus, they take your money and sit on it for seven days (even though I can prove after one day that the funds have cleared the bank on which they were drawn). Then, they make you physically come back to pay them, and they charge you for the privilege of doing so.

I also attempted to deposit another check — either to pay my line of credit or, failing that, into my account — but they refused. The check was made out to my business partner, but he endorsed it over to me (“Pay to ________________” on the back) to satisfy a pre-existing debt to me. They would not accept this check stating “We do not accept third party checks.” The trouble is, they accepted this very type of transaction three months ago (and let me apply it directly to my line of credit) three months ago. I explained this to the manager, who simply said that they do not accept third-party checks. This was infuriating, as I explained that they do and had done exactly this three months earlier. The manager simply repeated that they do not accept third-party checks and refused to permit the deposit. Thus, my partner now has to deposit the funds to his account, wait seven days for them to clear, cut me a check which I will then deposit, and for which WAMU will no doubt require another seven days, after which I’ll again have to go in and pay a fee for the privilege of paying them. Basta!

Finally, I have been sending automatic monthly payments to a former partner who was bought out of a business. He also has a WAMU account, so this would seem to be a simple matter. I set this up over the internet. This is a feature of WAMU’s website that is actually fairly easy to use. You just enter the payee, his/her account number and address, and then fill in how much and how often you want to send payments — relatively straightforward. I just learned that WAMU has even bollocksed this up to their own advantage. Rather than simply transferring the funds from my WAMU account to his WAMU account at the appointed hour, they are physically cutting a check and mailing it to him. Huh? For what purpose? No doubt they are interested in floating these funds in the mail as long as possible so that they can hang onto the money for the maximum amount of time. They deduct the money from my account the moment they (supposedly) drop the paper check in the mail. But they don’t credit his account until the check arrives in the mail and he manages to get it to the bank. If it’s legal to do so, I bet they’re putting a seven day hold on his funds even though they’ve already sucked the money out of my account.

I hope these Greedy SOBs are driven out of business by the sub-prime crisis. They’ll deserve it. A wise man once sang: “I Hate Banks” – Mojo Nixon No truer words ever were sung. Thanks for putting your website up and letting me vent. It’s hard for me to believe that WAMU pitches itself as a customer-friendly bank. Pathetic lie.”

$12.5 billion back tax bill

In another turn that shows how poorly WaMu has been run, they managed to rack up a $12.5 billion back tax bill. (article)