Wamu -> Chase change of terms (for WA and OR, rolling out to other states in coming months)

Just received a packet from Chase regarding changing terms for existing Wamu accounts.

Most of the perks of the free checking account will stay (e.g. free domestic/international outgoing wire, free checks, etc.) Major changes for this account are
- NSF refund will not be automatic, need to manually ask for it. Also no rollover of unused credit (1/yr)
- If there is no account activity for 6 month, account will be converted to a checking account that has minimum balance requirement, or else monthly fee is charged

5% CD remains unchanged.

Saving for Success remains unchanged, the associated Sweep Saving account will not have a monthly fee.

Online Saving account will have no monthly fee.

FYI these terms only affect customers in WA and Oregon. It will be gradually rolled out to customers in other states in the coming months.

Thanks for the info.

mttatkns said: busterbaxter said: - If there is no account activity for 6 month, account will be converted to a checking account that has minimum balance requirement, or else monthly fee is chargedSo that's why they've been paying people $100 a pop to open new checking accounts.

No, they just wanted to give this money away

Thanks. Looks like I might close these accounts after my last WaMu CD matures later this year.

is there a link online for this change?

I'm not in WA/OR but it probably will be happening to me soon.

sechs said: Aren't they supposed to encourage us to increase the number of products that we have with them, not decrease?They do, by paying you to open new accounts and airing commercials indicating that now is the right time for a relationship with Chase. They have to pay for the bonuses and airtime somehow!

This should be for 'not-yet-matured' savings for success a(SFS) ccounts. When my wamu SFS matured in last march, they sent me a postal mail saying that the money is rolled over to my checking account as they have discontinued the SFS.

I'm in TX.
busterbaxter said:

Saving for Success remains unchanged, the associated Sweep Saving account will not have a monthly fee.

One thing I'm not sure if answered yet is whether or not Chase is going to charge $3.00 for outgoing ACH transfers for existing WaMu accounts when they become Chase accounts. I'll send a bank mail and ask. Anyone know about this?

quizzer25 said: PerkGetter said: One thing I'm not sure if answered yet is whether or not Chase is going to charge $3.00 for outgoing ACH transfers for existing WaMu accounts when they become Chase accounts. I'll send a bank mail and ask. Anyone know about this?

Is it for a push from WAMU or pull from external bank or both?I'm going to venture to say push.

Ouch. This slumming around on the old WaMu systems seems like a pretty good deal right now.

Then again, the computer slapped a hold on a check that I wanted to deposit yesterday, and they've taken away the ability of managers to waive them.

ugh- just checked my online statement and i saw a $2 charge from my bank's side for using a non wamu/chase ATM. i'm on the wamu free checking and never got this charge before. i've made many withdrawals from non branded ATMs for the past couple years, but this charge came 2 weeks after my last ATM use. i called their customer service and my branch to threaten that i would close my account if this is now true, but they cannot verify if this charge will happen again- seems like it will though. said literature was given 10/08 and just be happy that i got charged just this one time (and i got the credit back).

----- edit-----

did some research and turns out that if i check my balance at a non WaMu/Chase ATM, i will get charged $2. if i make a withdrawal at a non WaMu/Chase ATM and do not check my balance, the ATM could check my balance before the actual withdrawal and i will get charged $2 for the inquiry. we're assuming the literature that was mailed out about fees from WaMu for not using their ATMs seems to be for new customers and i was grandfathered. now i have to make sure i don't use the ATMs that i did this past month to avoid those fees.

I just got the packet as well (I live in Florida)....In the packet it states that i will be getting a new Chase card in July...

I'm just going to have to only use chase ATM's...or close my account...

Sign of the times...

Ken

I also got my packet - NJ. Still trying to read the whole thing and make sense of it. Thanks for the tips.

Got the Chase debit card a while ago, MasterCard.

While digging around for information concerning my question, I found this entry at MyMoneyBlog (which I should probably read more regularly).

Who charges for online billpay and transfer between accounts??? No other big bank does this. If true this makes them very, very uncompetitive.

The Link for Florida Account UpdatesChange of term in FLORIDA on July 24, 2009.

bluegreenturtle said: There seems to be some indication that now Chase will charge:

1) a fee for online bill pay
2) a fee for transfers between chase accounts
3) a fee for transfers between chase accounts and external non-chase accounts

For its checking customers, Chase doesnt charge any fees for item 2 listed above (as well as for item 1 but I'm not 100% sure of that). I wonder why they'd shortchange WaMu customers.

JermanDude said: bluegreenturtle said: When I went to sign into my wamu account today, I was redirected to the chase login, when I logged in there the first time, there were all sorts of agreements to check that you agreed - I read them all and one of them said that now there would be $3 ACH fees, and a $4.95 per month online billpay fee. I went into my account to look at history, and I have like 10 transfers a month that seem to be listed as ACH - everything from online credit card payments to automatic student loan payments, to transfers to brokerage accounts. Again, if true, it's untenable (for most people, even.) On the 'regular' Chase checking accounts, ACH fees only apply to ACH pushs which were initiated at chase.com. If you pull the money from elsewhere it's free. I hope it's the same for the new WaMu accounts?

It's quite possible that I'm reading it wrong and these fees are waived - and external ACH pulls are free, and as said above, items 1 and 2 are not charged - in this case then it's all the same as it was at wamu (although there weren't any fees at wamu for anything). The billpay is just annoying, I can do it from elsewhere anyway. One thing that's always annoyed me anyway about WaMu (and chase) billpay is that the account is debited immediately on the billpay - thus you don't know when the check was cashed, or even if it was - they just take the money and send the check, even if never gets to the right person. My Fidelity account only debits the account when the check is cashed.

MrVietnam said: What does this mean exactly?

--> They responded and said that push ACH transactions will now cost $3.00. Was free with Wamu

Does this mean if I use my Chase checking account to fund online accounts at other banks or to fund my PayPal account I will be charged $3.00. Can someone explain what a push and pull ACH are?

A push is when you instruct Chase to push money out into another account. A pull is when you instruct another bank to pull money out of your Chase account. ACH = Automated Clearing House (I think) -- it's shorthand for online transfers.

(anyone know why we say ACH instead of EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)???

nm

I noticed the forced conversion today on the website and called Chase. The woman didn't know about it and offered to convert the account to the baseline Chase Savings to avoid a monthly fee. I declined and checked this thread, and did find the small and poorly placed print on my March statement rather than my April statement. I wonder if this conversion is why my savings account disappeared as a option for account transfers. I'm really beginning to hate Chase.