R.I.P., WaMu
When we first moved back to California from Philly, we went in search of a bank, and ended up at Great Western, a bank that we knew, and that had the advantage of being smaller, not a huge B of A or Wells Fargo. We liked Great Western, liked the friendly employees, liked the neighborhood feel of it, liked that they didn’t charge us to use other people’s ATMs, that kind of thing. Then, a few years later, WaMu came to town. They bought two banks in our area, Great Western and American Savings. We thought of moving to another bank, but at the smaller bank I looked at, they admitted to me that they were in the process of being purchased as well, and wouldn’t be the small neighborhood savings and loan for long. So we decided to give WaMu a try.
You know what? We liked it. Liked it for the same reasons that we liked GW. Liked the friendly tellers, liked the free use of other bank’s ATMs, liked the feel of the place. Heck, we didn’t even mind their weird islands of tellers that the branch near us instituted, I suspect because they kept getting robbed, and wanted to throw the theives off and confuse them.
So when the rumors started about WaMu failing, we were sad. I knew our money was safe, since we don’t have anything close to the $100K insured limit, but I did read that if they failed, if they were taken over by the gov, that we might not have any access to our money for a few days. Hmmm.  Didn’t like the sound of that, since I pay for everything with an ATM card. Sure, I could use a credit card for a few days if I needed to, but what if I found myself in some strange place that didn’t take credit cards, or what if I wanted to go to the Farmers’ Market, and couldn’t get cash for that? So I took a little cash out and stashed it away.
Now, it’s done. Our bank is closed, the victim of their own stupidity in jumping on that bad loan bandwagon. Seems like it was a seamless transition, though I haven’t actually TRIED to use my debit card, and taking out the cash was probably a silly thing to do. But it just felt like…well, how stupid would I feel if I had needed it, and hadn’t done it? So I guess our bank will be Chase soon, or something like that.  I’ll give it a bit of a chance, but if a bunch of fees start cropping up, maybe it’s time to find another small bank (are there any left?), or who knows, maybe a credit union?
12 Comments
Jenny (your cuz)
This freaks me out and makes me fear my bank could be next. I did the same thing and left Wells Fargo, who always screwed up my account for a smaller bank. I decided to go with Union Bank of California. The tellers are friendly, they always seem to remember you and they offer great things too. I wonder if they are in danger too and if I should get my money out. I hope not 🙁
Autumn's Mom
It’s one of those things you don’t want to have to think about. My money should be safe in my bank! I’ve been with my bank for 15 years. We have a small bank here in town, but I’ve been so afraid to switch. My bank used to be one of those smaller friendly banks, but it has become colder in recent years. Sigh. J has a credit union and they are just fabulous. But they only have branches in Sacramento. BOOOO!
J
No worries Jenny, even if your bank DOES fail, the Federal Government guarantees checking and savings accounts, up to $100,000. So you won’t lose any money. We didn’t lose any money. I just pulled out some cash to tide us over, because there were rumors that the bank might be closed on Friday, and no money available until Monday.
Ted
I’m sad, too. I really liked WaMu and it just seems like, yeah, they did some stupid things with loaning money, but the end was hastened when people started withdrawing their money and putting it in other banks. I guess we can check out the Bank of Walnut Creek if we’re looking for a small one.
Ted
Scratch that. Bank of Walnut Creek was bought by First Republic.
Joan
A big story. My first job was with NCNB which later changed their name to Bank of America. Both BOA and Wachovia originated out of NC. It’s scary times right now. I try to be informed but I can’t let myself dwell on it too long.
Cherry
Eric is at WaMu so I was watching the news. His father got all belligerent and told him he better get his money out of there. Eric tried to explain to him the whole FDIC thing, but his dad is more of a mattress type of banker, so he was flipping out. Eric told him he’d leave the money in WaMu just out of spite! Turns out its all ok, but I’m sure he’ll still rub it in his dad’s face.
Gotta love that loving father/son relationship.
J
I did hear one guy saying that if enough banks failed, there wouldn’t be enough FDIC insurance to cover it. But I think the gov. would have to print more money or something, because otherwise, there would be big trouble.
Starshine
I went into WaMu today, just to see if it was a mad scene, but it looked like business as usual. 🙂 A teller told me they were prepared in case there would be a rush of people, but she said that didn’t happen.
Lalunas
WaMu has been my favorite banks of all time. They always treated my like I was important. It is so sad to see this happen. Now, comes the changes. This whole financial crisis has really been one scary roller coaster ride. I just want to get off this ride and so does that rest of America.
shelliza
That’s sad. I used to have an account there (love the free checking) and worked at Washington Mutual for four years. That was around the same time they were transitioning from Great Western. I’ve been banking with a local credit union and that has worked well for us. If you’re looking for a local feel, with friendly service, I would definitely recommend a credit union. I’ve found also that they go an extra mile if you need an sort of financing.
Nicholas
I don’t have an account at WaMu but I do have 2 WaMu credit cards. In fact they were Providian Bank credit cards but they became WaMu when WaMu took over Providian. Anyway, as soon as I read the news yesterday I phoned the credit card line to see how I would be affected. Some poor young man in India or somewhere had no idea what I was talking about!