Here's the facts:

- I moved recently and opened a new Washington Mutual checkings account. I had had an old one that had been closed three months previously due to inactivity.

- The opening was fine - I deposited $20.00 and went on my merry way.

- Two weeks later, I deposited a $500.00 check from my mom, which was drawn from a credit union.

- Three days after I deposited the check, my card was refused while paying for textbooks. When I got home, I called customer service. They told me that because my account was new, all checks would have a seven day hold. The only way this hold could be lifted was if my mom got a letter from her bank, faxed it to their risk department, and they could clear it.

- The people in the risk department were incredibly rude. One of the reps. asked why my parents couldn't have just mailed me a cashier's check. When I explained that it was a hassle - they both work, and don't have time to run down to the bank a lot - she went "REALLY?" very sarcastically. She also made some other rude comments.

- I called back to complain to the rep's manager, and she said that they're "not trained for customer service" so I shouldn't take it too personally. But I decided to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau anyway.

- On the day the BBB complaint was received to WaMu (I received confirmation via email) , I attempted to withdraw $20.00 from my account at a local ATM. My card refused to work. When I went into the branch to speak to the teller, she mentiond that my accounts had been frozen. When I asked her why, she called the risk department who proceeded to give me two convoluted explanations.

- She first said it was frozen because I owned money on the old account. She also said that I shouldn't have been allowed to open a new account, but it somehow "slipped through". HOWEVER, when the manager came over to look at my account, the manager agreed it was weird that I was being charged, because the account had originally been closed out at $0.00, with me not owing anything.

- Risk management also said I couldn't access my new account until I paid off the money. Until then, my accounts would be frozen. When I pointed out I couldn't pay off what they claimed I owe if my accounts were frozen, they changed their story. About a half hour later, the teller told me that risk management was saying that my new accounts had been frozen because the original $500 check (which had been deposited 2 1/2 weeks ago by this point), still hadn't been confirmed by the credit union. When I pointed out the funds had already been released (and I had spent part of it), she said that "it didn't matter." They needed to reconfirm it anyway.

- I think this whole entire situation is VERY suspcious. Both the teller and the bank manager said they had never encountered anything like this before. I personally think that this is Wamu's way of intimidating me, since I had complained about the risk department's behavior. It's funny my funds would suddenly be frozen by that department for reasons that are "weird" - as described by the bank manager - at best.

I'm going to call BBB tomorrow and see what they can do. But this whole situation sucks.

(One month later)

WAMU eventually ended up closing down my account. They said I was a risk and couldn't give me an account. If I didn't agree to have my account closed, they wouldn't refund me the remaining balance. I would have refused as a matter of principal, but I'm a broke graduate student. I had to sign several documents saying I agreed to their terms.

As I was leaving, the assistant manager (the one who had originally said this whole situation seemed strange) called me over. She apologized for all of this happening and gave me her card. She said she wanted me to know that not everyone at WAMU was corrupt, and she would love to help me in the future.

Basically, WAMU is blaming all of this on a computer error. It's possible that they really ARE that bad at record keeping, but I really don't think it makes much sense. The fact that I originally didn't receive any notice I needed to pay them AND I was able to open a second account seems to indicate there really weren't any problems, until the BBB complaint.

Hope this helps future WAMU customers.