WAMU New Online Savings --Now more of a discussion--

Great post!

Current customers take note:
I called WAMU but they said that rate was only available to newly opened online accounts. So I will open a new checking and savings account. Since their regular savings rate is 0.4%, I think it's worth the extra effort to get 11x the interest.

Not to rain on the Wamu Savings parade but GMAC lets you link to WaMu checking no problem and no check required to mail in. From there you can link to virtually any account available. Also you earn 5.0% interest and have check and atm usage so the money is just as instantly available as it would be in WaMu. In fact if you have a WaMu checking account you could just go cash a check or use WaMu's atm and not have any fees (if you keep it under $6/month).

Seems like the 4.75% account is of limited use (need to avoid hard pulls?).

dolmar said: CleverNickname said: NLike I said I dont bank with WAMU nor do I bank with GMAC but if you telling everyone here GMAC transfers are instant to non GMAC account I am sure 99% of the people on this forum would disagree with you.

Please read before posting. Where did I say or imply that GMAC transfers to non GMAC accounts would be instant? I said if I need cash in hand right now it would take the same amount of time to walk into my WaMu bank and cash a GMAC check written out to myself as it would to cash a WaMu check written out to myself. If I walked to an ATM it would take the same amount of time to get cash in hand from using a WaMu debit card or a GMAC debit card and the cost ($0) would be the exact smae.

Also no where did I say you used WaMu savings or that you personally were recommending it so I don't understand the need for you to defend yourself.
</blockquote>

You can make fun of us "small potatoes" all you want. I keep enough in GMAC to pay my 5-6 largest bills every month. I find checks I write often don't get cashed for a week or two after I write them but I don't feel comfortable kiting checks and keeping it until savings to try to guess when it will be cahsed. I make a very real tangible profit by writing checks with GMAC. You can make fun of it all you want.

I also have GMAC as a hub where I can put my money into more profitable endeavors such as T-Bills and high interest savings and CDs.</blockquote>

CleverNickname said: dolmar said: CleverNickname said: NLike I said I dont bank with WAMU nor do I bank with GMAC but if you telling everyone here GMAC transfers are instant to non GMAC account I am sure 99% of the people on this forum would disagree with you.

Please read before posting. Where did I say or imply that GMAC transfers to non GMAC accounts would be instant? I said if I need cash in hand right now it would take the same amount of time to walk into my WaMu bank and cash a GMAC check written out to myself as it would to cash a WaMu check written out to myself. If I walked to an ATM it would take the same amount of time to get cash in hand from using a WaMu debit card or a GMAC debit card and the cost ($0) would be the exact smae.

Also no where did I say you used WaMu savings or that you personally were recommending it so I don't understand the need for you to defend yourself.
</blockquote>

You can make fun of us "small potatoes" all you want. I keep enough in GMAC to pay my 5-6 largest bills every month. I find checks I write often don't get cashed for a week or two after I write them but I don't feel comfortable kiting checks and keeping it until savings to try to guess when it will be cahsed. I make a very real tangible profit by writing checks with GMAC. You can make fun of it all you want.

I also have GMAC as a hub where I can put my money into more profitable endeavors such as T-Bills and high interest savings and CDs.</blockquote>

If you dont get instant credit on your checks and you dont have the money in WAMU they wont cash a check from an another bank. I dont think you grasp that concept. If you have $1K in your WAMU checking account and you need $10K and you dont get instant credit if you walk into WAMU and deposit a check the check will be subject to standard holds which could be anywhere from 2-10 bussiness days. They wont cash a $10K check end of story. I want to you see take out $10K from an ATM.

While you have had luck paying bills from your savings account read all the online savings account thread some credit card companies/lenders wont allow you to make payments from a savings account AMEX is notorious about it. And AMEX has one of the best 0% promo offers on there blue card upto 15 months no fee transfers.

Now if you had some money in a Wamu savings account you get instant access to it. That is why people banking with WAMU might want to consider this account. Not telling anyone to run out and open a savings account at WAMU who does not bank with WAMU.


jimbocobb no just click on open "Free checking account" the promo discloser should be show to you. Unless the promo has already ended.</blockquote>

Well then your lucky read alot of the Balance transfer threads on here. Many people have eiter gotten balance transfer checks, written themself checks and complain that BofA, Wamu amoung other banks have put long holds and they are mad cause they not collect interest on the balance for thoses days.

If you bank gives you instant credit so be it. But most people on here dont get instant credit on there funds. Hell ING/HSBC/ED put 10 day hold on all incoming ACH transfer before the money can be withdrawn.

GMAC is 5 days for local deposits and 6 days and for all deposits over $5K 10 days

look at 35-38 for rules that apply.


After calling my local WAMU they claim all deposit are subject to normal holds unless you have a WAMU overdraft. After 180 days first $1K is credited instantly but all deposits over $1K work like this.

$1K instant
1001-5K 3 bussiness day
5001-9999 5 bussines day
$10K + 10 bussiness day

So if you get instant credit at WAMU more power to you.

CleverNickname said: dolmar said: CleverNickname said: NLike I said I dont bank with WAMU nor do I bank with GMAC but if you telling everyone here GMAC transfers are instant to non GMAC account I am sure 99% of the people on this forum would disagree with you.

Please read before posting. Where did I say or imply that GMAC transfers to non GMAC accounts would be instant? I said if I need cash in hand right now it would take the same amount of time to walk into my WaMu bank and cash a GMAC check written out to myself as it would to cash a WaMu check written out to myself. If I walked to an ATM it would take the same amount of time to get cash in hand from using a WaMu debit card or a GMAC debit card and the cost ($0) would be the exact smae.

Also no where did I say you used WaMu savings or that you personally were recommending it so I don't understand the need for you to defend yourself.
</blockquote>

You can make fun of us "small potatoes" all you want. I keep enough in GMAC to pay my 5-6 largest bills every month. I find checks I write often don't get cashed for a week or two after I write them but I don't feel comfortable kiting checks and keeping it until savings to try to guess when it will be cahsed. I make a very real tangible profit by writing checks with GMAC. You can make fun of it all you want.

I also have GMAC as a hub where I can put my money into more profitable endeavors such as T-Bills and high interest savings and CDs.</blockquote>

From personal experience I can tell you that WAMU holds checks over $5k, even if written out to myself on my own account elsewhere. This has happened to me repeatedly. It is the main reason I keep some money with them locally. This 4.75% savings is a great find, for those of us already using WAMU. It allows us to keep money with only a small hit in savings, with a guarantee of instant access. Those of you with 'big money' can still leave it in GMAC or HSBC but this kind of emergency fund is worth paying a few bucks a year for.

Also, please note that WAMU free checking has free outgoing wires. Nice feature - I've used it myself.</blockquote>

BankDeals.blogspot:I called WaMu this morning, and I was told that this 4.75% APY savings account is only available for those who don't already have the WaMu checking account.

So there goes the argument for the, "but I already have WaMu checking already, this is great for an emergency fund" argument.

dolmar said: CleverNickname said: BankDeals.blogspot:I called WaMu this morning, and I was told that this 4.75% APY savings account is only available for those who don't already have the WaMu checking account.

So there goes the argument for the, "but I already have WaMu checking already, this is great for an emergency fund" argument.

LOL just open another "Free checking account" problem sloved and close your old one. Remember you get free checks, free everything so what is the big deal? Can close your account once you get your free check for life and accounts are open and all pending checks clear. It not the end of the world.

ROFL if you're willing to close your account, open a new account and relink to all of your bills and other financial accounts...you may as well pick a bank with 5%+ savings plans and no 10 day holds on $10,000 checks.

not so fast... I opened a new account, funded it from my old account, then moved everything into my new 4.75% savings account. no fees, didn't even bother to order any checks (those would have been free too). this all took about 5 minutes. And I didn't have to close my old accounts; the new savings account shows 4.75%.

some of use WAMU for other reasons besides high yield savings... this is just a nice touch.

I've had Wamu for awhile and they are horrible and could careless about customers. Check out better business bureau at bbb.org and you'll see they could careless about complaints and could care less about customers. The only reason I use them is that I have a little bit of money in there to have a local bank, since the majority of my money is going to an intrest bearing online checking account.

Even the free one they screwed up. I went in and told them I wanted just a free checking with no fees and gave them 5 dollars. Then a few days later I transfered a few hundred dollars to them, well when the month ended they charged me a few bucks and I called and they told me I signed up for a checking account that wasn't free and I couldn't believe. I told the CSR that I went in and said over and over I wanted the free checking. The person fixed it and refunded my money and changed me to the free checking. Well guess what happened next month? They charged me money for leaving the plan without staying a certain amount of time or something, so I called back and said listen I never wanted anything except the free checking with no minimum. After a few phone calls they did credit me, but why so much hassle.

Personally if there was any other bank that was local and there were many around that had free checking with no minimum I would leave them in a heartbeat. A family member is using them for their mortgage since it was sold to them and I hear about the complaints about Wamu every day.

I'm just trying to warn some people, please check bbb.org and make a decision after reading the complaints and how they don't resolve complaints and look at other competition before going to their savings that pay less than other competitors.

linkified

I tired that link and it failed.

Thanks I'm all over it too. I keep a local bank around just in case.

Just go to the wamu website: http://www.wamu.com/personal/default.asp and click on the big yellow square that says "CLICK". It'll take you to the WaMu Free Checking page, and then just click on "APPLY ONLINE". Thats when the info about the "Special Online Offer" 4.75% Statement Savings shows up.

link from scripta worked for me
already have a WAMU account
used a Mac with Firefox

Well it worked with IE later. Maybe it was a work thing.

Clocks said: rab75 said: link from scripta worked for me
already have a WAMU account
used a Mac with Firefox

Did it open up a second checking acct also, or just add on the savings acct?

It opened a new checking and a new 'statement savings account'
i funded the new checking from the old checking i already have and within five minutes i logged back in and moved the bulk of my checking money from my joint account, my individual account, and my newly funded checking account into the new savings account
if you have WAMU you know this happens instantly so its about as easy as it gets
i assume there is a 6 transfer/month cap in and out of the savings account so watch that in case you plan on moving lots of money around

slimshadyxix said: Does anyone know if WAMU pulls CR to open these two accounts?
Don't know for sure but I believe so. I asked about CR pulls when I got a CD at WaMu; the CSR said they used ChexSystems for CDs but would get a credit report on other new accounts. (I didn't ask "hard" or "soft" pull because I was resisting the cross-sell and didn't need to know.)

Anyone know if this is available for a business account too?