Sorry Ben.

To be honest, I was planning on changing banks, anyway, so this takes some of the hassle out of that.

I, for one, welcome our Chase overlords.

I just got an email from WaMu this morning, telling me to "Start savings for the holidays!" and an offer for 5% APR on a 12/13 month online CD.

*throws worthless paper to the floor and curses God*

I am still taking my $5 out of WaMu, I just hope my "home credit line" with them falls through Chases cracks. That would be sweet!

At least it wasn't BoA. I need to find a local credit union. Ugh. I miss my WaMu. I heard a lot of crap on here about them, but to me, they've been nothing but golden. The WaMu is Dead, Long Live WaMu (Chase)!

WOO-HOO! [We just seized!]

Good riddance to bad rubbish. I'm surprised Ben was able to dodge their lying, stupidity, and underhanded business practices all this time. Not that Chase is any better, but I've personally never had a problem with them; of course, I only have two credit cards with them ~ no bank accounts.

WaMu: D'oh!

That's a shame, I was thinking of switching to their higher APY savings account.

I guess the old stodgy bankers in their commercials finally gave the young whippersnapper his comeuppance.

Damn, I hadn't seen a post on this yet, so I just sent in a pic of the website, Ben. Check the tips mailbox.

AngrySicilian: I heard a lot of crap on here about them, but to me, they've been nothing but golden.

This. Never had anything but great service from WAMU, despite all the horror stories I've heard.

@blackmage439: Oh, the post just updated, and I noticed this interesting tidbit:

"In all, they took out about 9% of WaMu's deposits, or $16.7 billion. Regulators say this left WaMu without enough capital to keep functioning."

So, I am interpreting this correctly in that WaMu would have been fine if panicky bastards hadn't performed a good ol' bank run? Sounds like about %50 of what's wrong with the US's economy right now.

Does this mean I can use my Chase ATM at WaMu branches and skip that 3 dollar service charge? Sweet.

Sorry about your stocks.

Well hell. I hope all the bank-in-a-box branches they've opened will stick around, even if they get rebranded. I'd hate to have to switch to BoA (the only other significant banking presence in Dallas) just as the locations were getting good.

So WaMu was safe till the media caused people to panic and withdraw their money thus making WaMu actually fail? Maybe they should keep information like that closed.

@blackmage439:

Actually I think the more accurate statement is that WAMU would have been fine if they had not been greedy bastards and gave out subprime and Alt-A loans to individuals who clearly should not of had those loans.

But sure ignore the underlying disease.

@y2julio:
Well, safe may be too strong a word. But yeah.

The story I've heard is that direct deposit will not be affected, and less than 10% of the two companies' total combined branches will be shut down.

I love Chase. No experience with WaMu, personally. I just hope that Chase gets some return off buying up distressed assets to afford their little spending spree lately.

@dtmoulton: US currency?

@y2julio:
Such is economics, everything is done off of what people EXPECT are going to happen whether it has any merits or not. Thus it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and then I think about moving the money in my wamu account to somewhere else.

I think most people here are just ignoring one major fact: [calculatedrisk.blogspot.com]

"WaMu has $53 billion in option adjustable-rate mortgages ... Of the $53 billion in option ARMs, $14 billion of these are to the riskiest segment in mortgage lending, subprime borrowers.

WaMu also has $62 billion in home-equity loans ...

Mr. Bove predicts that WaMu will lose $40 billion over the next three years on its loan portfolio. If the economy weakens further and losses are even higher, he said, "the future of the company is questionable."

So sure lets just ignore the fact they were greedy bastards.

Thanks to the FDIC, my $3.15 is safe and sound in my WaMu account.

@y2julio: The Regulation Fair Disclosure Act of 2000 frowns on such practices. Still, blame the liberal media.

@y2julio: Wa-Mu was going to fail no matter what, but the bank run just put them out of our misery earlier. They were a badly run bank, and were doomed no matter what the media did.

So, if I have a WaMu credit card, does that mean I don't have to pay it anymore? :) Or maybe I can claim I paid it plus a few thousand extra when they get their share of that $700,000,000,000 bailout (or is it $1.2 trillion? I hear the banks are saying they may need another $500 billion).

@jwinston2:

You misinterpret my statement. The other half of what's wrong is greedy bastards, as you said. Yes, I believe these CEOs, bankers, and whoever else was responsible for the illegal and amoral activities all need a swift few kicks in the nuts. However, it is wrong to allow these institutions to fail at the expense of their customers' (read: NOT their shareholders) well being.

I'm just saying a bank run and subsequent failure doesn't do anybody any good. That's all. It's not like Chase and Bank of America are holy saviors in this crisis. Their both two of the greediest and shadiest banks in the country. The only difference is that neither of them were stupid enough to get heavily involved in these dishonest loans. That's why they both have the capital to gobble up all of these other institutions. When the dust settles, there will be trouble without proper regulation. Chase and BoA will most certainly hold a monopoly on banking institutions in this country, if they don't already...

@jwinston2: Exactly what I was thinking. Why was WaMu counting on the last 9% of it's revenue to fund basic operating costs? Sounds waaaaay too risky for this cowboy.

@KesCaesar: It looks like you still can... hit up their website! [www.wamu.com]

@mindshadow: Yes.

@mindshadow: Yes, you still have to pay it.

At least the change was seamless for me so far. WaMu has been great to me, but I don't plan on having chase as a bank.

I use my WaMu free checking account almost exclusively for PayPal/eBay, since it does not require any minimum deposits or any direct deposit to remain free.

Chase requires direct deposit to remain free, otherwise there seems to be a $12 month charge.

Does this mean that I will start being charged a fee?

Will I be notified in advance so I can close the account?

I use a credit union for all other banking, so I have no intention of direct depositing into chase.

@YourTechSupport: Same here. There's a WaMu next to UTD... next to where I lived in Houston... next to my old workplace AND my new workplace... it was so amazingly convenient to use CASH! :D

If they close down, I might go Mr. Stabby!

@conformco: You might want to consider talking to your local Chase branch first. :)

I've been with Chase since it ate my old bank in the mid 80s and have not had a single problem with them except they don't have a change counter at my location. That's my biggest gripe, they have friendly staff, they actually answer the phone, they know my name when I walk in, they call me before shutting off my card for unusual spending patterns (Bank of America didn't call us, just shut down our card, Thanks guys!)

@jwinston2: Everyone is quick to blame the bankers. It was the rating agencies that rated these mortgage backed securities as less risky than they truly were.

@mindshadow: Yes, You will have to pay Chase now.

Oh, goody, I get Chase ATMs in California now when I visit.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected:

Exactly. Anyone following the financial news that was concerned about their deposits would have moved months ago.

So I was once with Providian, then they became WaMu, and now I'm with Chase? Fantastic. Do I get a super-special prize for getting to experience the trifecta of poor customer service?

@blackmage439:

Yes, customer withdrawals contributed to WaMu's demise. If people didn't panic, the government wouldn't have stepped in and seized control. Well, maybe they would have eventually, but not so soon. My guess is that this news will cause a knee jerk reaction and other people will start pulling their money out and stashing it under their mattresses.

It's really unfortunate though. My experience with WaMu has been great. Much better than my previous bank, Bank Of America.

@LatherRinseRepeat: There have already been stories of elderly customers going into banks and trying to withdraw everything.

@HIV 2 Elway Resurrected: Very true, the banks were not the only and most critical culprits.

@rrrebo: which is great news overall.

@parkavery: You get 100 banker points where are as useful as Xbox live's gamerpoints.

@mbd: No, they will grandfather you account including any terms already made, ex: no minimum balance required. I could be wrong, so if I am, feel free to correct me.

@cjc: I live in the capitol city of Montana and we don't have either. The *only* national bank we have (heck, probably the only one with more than two branches anywhere) is US Bank. While they have some of the nicest tellers they are overall completely and utterly incompetent. So far they have merged my business and personal account information, then they merged the STATEMENTS (hurray for screwing up my taxes), and for added fun they can't do *anything* over the phone for business accounts. *sigh*

@y2julio: What do you mean "grandfather your account"? I'm not familiar with that phrase.