For Washington Mutual direct deposit customers, to protect yourself no matter who takes over and how good they are at handling WaMu’s computer systems, Carmen Wong Ulrich, host of CNBC’s personal finance show “On The Money,” wants you to hit Print. When that direct deposit hits your account, she wants you to go to your WaMu online banking account and make a printout of your statement. That way if it somehow gets lost in the shuffle, “go right up to the bank with your paperwork.” It would probably get eventually sorted out anyway, but this way can help expedite things, just in case.
Web Extra: What to Do About WaMu [On The Money]
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Bye Bye WaMu. I was very terrible to ask you to hold my money and make sure it was secure……
Ohh and that “home credit line” with you we have, don’t expect that money. : )
This is good advice for everybody, not just WaMu customers.
@B: “This is good advice for everybody, not just WaMu customers. “
Yea… nothing better then going paperless with direct deposit then to go and make printouts of each deposit.
Maybe a screen-shot saved in an electronic file on your computer for a few months would be better advice.
When you get advice like this I’m thinking hmmm, shall I print my statement or PULL MY MONEY OUT? Hard choices.
@philipbarrett:
I’m with you…when I hear print out your statement, just in case, I’m running for the hills.
@ClayS: The hills? I’m running to the bank to get my money the hell out of there, then I’m running to the hills.
@ViperBorg:
Right, that’s an even better idea.
WaMu: “but sir we can’t give you your money, you don’t have any”
Me: “But I’ve got my printed statement right here”
WaMu: “Yes, but it has ‘overdraft’ crossed out and ‘credit’ written in, in crayon.”
Some folks are going to have EXTRA lumpy mattresses tonight…
Print to PDF, store the file on an Ironkey or another sort of encryption protection.
Here’s how to “print” to PDF: [www.cutepdf.com]
If you don’t trust your bank enough to go through this extra effort, why do you still have any deposits with them?
That said, if I had Wamu accounts (and I wouldn’t, working for a major bank has made me appreciate credit unions all the more) I wouldn’t necessarily be running for the hills. But if you are worried, and I can understand why, just open up accounts with an institution you trust and sleep easy.
Your company’s payroll provider would always have records of where the money was ACH’ed to. There isn’t really a way for it to get “lost in the shuffle.” Getting customer service to help you or to care is another matter…
Doesn’t the stub from your direct deposit contain this already? I am pretty sure mine has my partially redacted account number in addition to all of the other particulars.
If you have the ability to set up alerts, you could have it email you whenever a deposit is posted, and then have a filter set up to catch the resulting email(s).
@Git Em SteveDave loves this guy–>: Scary sidenote- I just checked my pay stubs and they have my full bank account number on them. Time to lock them all in the file cabinet from now on!
Back on topic, I think it’s time for me to find a local credit union. The WAMU situation is starting to scare the crap out of me- my local ATM was out of cash the other day. I’m no financial genius , but when an ATM located IN A BRANCH OFFICE is out of cash in the middle of the day, that seems kinda like a red flag.
I have a National City Bank rep. stalking us in our breakroom to open a direct deposit account for $163 bucks and “points”. Should I throw something at her?
Target won’t take back a $20.00 pair of shoes with the reciept you printed online, do you really think those tasked by WAMU’s new overlords are going to even look twice at your home-made bank balance printouts?
Ditto on the print to PDF. Print to paper as (if, when) needed.
List me as another plug for a local credit union.
I do have a checking account with BoFA and it stores my “mad money” and that is ALL it stores. Never more than a few hundred bucks, and mostly not even that.
@TakingItSeriously: “Mad money?” Wish I had some of that.
Why, oh why, does WaMu have to sell itself? The only thing left will be a bunch of shitty multi-national banks, none of which I want to do business with.
I dunno. It’s pretty easy to doctor print-outs, screenshots, and PDF’s these days. If something “gets lost in the shuffle” and you present your print-outs to your bank, will they give you your money? Or will they say it’s fake and tell you to go away?
I do banking online, but I still get paper statements as a back-up.
@LatherRinseRepeat: I think you’d be better off presenting the pay stub from your employer showing they deposited the money. That’ll carry a lot more weight. Having the printout might still be helpful for your own use, in verifying what’s missing, though.
I think the point here is that you can’t assume historical information in your bank’s online system — statements, etc. — will continue to be available to you if your bank gets bought out.
I just had my paycheck direct deposit switched from WaMu to USAA this morning.
WaMu once closed my wife’s auxillary account on her without notice, swallowing her $3.74 (!) In the process. Now, by yanking my money, I know that I’m helping to accelerate the process of WaMu’s destruction and it… Well… It makes me smile. (Sniffle)
@Mike8813: Congrats. You’ll LOVE USAA’s checking.
And the consumerist was telling us not to take our money out, that they need the liquidity.
Fuck that. Take your money to a more secure institution, let them figure their mess out. I owe them nothing.
Bloody hell, there’s no need to pull your money out of WaMu unless you’re not fully covered by the FDIC or you want to see WaMu fail.
@ameyer:
Or you want to be able to use your money if they fail. Just because the FDIC protects your money is no reason to wait for them to prove it to you.
Closed 3 accounts with Wamu today. Due to lousy customer service I had been wanting to do it for a while. However, considering their current situation, it felt extra special good to know that I was in some way contributing to their downfall. Bye Bye!
@Rider: Except the process is almost always reasonably seamless.
Bank closes on Friday, reopens on Monday as a branch of whatever bank takes over.
You’d still have access to your money up to $100,000 via checks and EFT.
@ameyer: Add “over the weekend” to the end of that.
Probably shouldn’t have hit “submit” without making sure I was as clear as I should have been.
Speaking of situations where you should run, not walk to the nearest WaMu branch…
From [www.nypost.com]
“Should I be in panic mode?” asked one Brooklyn-based customer who recently bought a $250,000 13-month CD from the bank.
I just opened an account with a credit union last night and switched my direct deposit from WaMu to them today.
I am *not*, however, emptying and closing my WaMu accounts at this time. I’m just preparing for the transfer of ownership.
This isn’t necessary. Transfer of ownership happens over a weekend, and your account and routing numbers will most likely remain the same.
The Fed has learned over the years how to make this transition as seamless as possible. The last thing they need is to cut people off from their funds.
I recommend we all watch less TV and Internet news.
You can always download a free PDF printer off of Download.com or elsewhere and just make an electronic copy.