WaMu BuHoo: website before and after SUPER EPIC FAIL.
BBtv reader Brian Frank says, "I thought Boing Boing might enjoy this...see attached screenshots from Washington Mutual's website at various times over the past 24 hours... I call it, 'peek-a-boo! your bank is toast!' Top: before. Middle: after. Bottom: current."
the latest
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The most significant thing here is the disappearing 4% interest savings accounts on the homepage- something that WaMu started doing just recently to try to drag in additional deposits to prop themselves up. You only get good deals like that from banks that think they are not going to be around to have to pay up...
As you know, those children were the property of the bank, and they've been seized and taken to JP Morgan's headquarters, where they'll live out the rest of their lives in a secure bank vault.
It's almost like they approved the text change and then realized "Hrm ... uh, that image might not be appropriate."
Took them a few edits before realizing that photo was too perfect a metaphor.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2002/2889233176_158287d255_o.jpg
"Feel the Whoo Hoo!" is still there.
There was a WaMu branch just built and about to open in my neighborhood, one block up from the Chase branch. Wonder if they'll keep the name? Can they do that?
I actually received an email from WaMu last night. The subject line was, "The holidays start today," linking to that 4% savings crap. Holidays for who? Apparently their employees. Whoo hoo indeed.
Wonder if the bank name will change again in the next 24 hours. There was a Daily Show a week or so ago in which the financial reporter character was reporting from an investment bank which statrted out as maybe Lehman Bros. but by the end of the skit was Bed, Bath, (some bank name) & Beyond.
Vista? Seriously?
This sucks. I hope the partisanness of the House will subside and they will come up with something that works a heck of a lot better than the Bush/Paulson/Bernanke Plan.
In an anti-"BoingBoing comment roast" spirit, I feel like pointing out that the 4% online savings rate is still being offered:
https://www.wamu.com/personal/savings_account/online_savings_account/default.asp
The 5% 1-year CD rate is still there, too. According to their customer support department, the FDIC guarantees the CD interest rate for six months. Of course, after that point, JP Morgan might drop the rate drastically, and they might charge the standard penalties for early liquidation. Right now, WAMU told me they have no information about what happens beyond the six month point.
Good Morning new customers! Welcome to YourBank, LLC.
Dear Mr. Miller (comment 9),
Thanks so much for dropping by to let us know about offshore investment opportunities!! But I think I'll stick with my mattress for now, it seems to be the safest place for my money.
P.S. I really enjoyed your work on The Dark Knight Returns. Perhaps you might want to stick to writing comics?
Best Regards,
H. Caulfield
I saw that this morning when I logged in. At least my money's safe... hopefully...
Since I live paycheck to paycheck, this doesn't matter all that much to me.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the added disclaimer(right word?) at the bottom of the screen:
The wording is interesting...
Oh yay.
I switched from Chase(tm) to WAMU last year because I got sick of all the bullsh*t fees, crap service and lousy bend over and take it approach to banking Chase is famous for.
WAMU was the best bank I've ever had. Deposits show up right away, not at midnight or midnight the following business day. The music in the local branch is decent and rocking, not kenny g or some muzak-ish twaddle.
Now I can look forward to more grade "A" horsesh*t from Chase(tm).
Chase(tm) can lick my left[redacted].
Joy!
@15: You should unless you intend to eat those paychecks.
So I'm reading this Washington Mutual stuff and I'm confused. Back in the early Paleolithic, when they were a local Seattle bank, I think I had an account with them. But I don't now, so I have no money in this but here we have a Bloomberg story saying
and a Salt Lake Tribune WaMu FAQ from earlier in the day which says This is like watching a fast-action movie in lots of cars get wrecked and blow up. So are WaMu depositors protected or not?@#19 Kathryn Cramer:
Yes, we WaMU folks are safe and covered since J.P. Morgan Chase is covered by FDIC as well.
Chase confirms this as well on their site:
"Your deposits at WaMu are now backed by the financial strength of Chase in addition to continuing to be insured by the FDIC."
I also made a little memorial to WaMU since I actually liked them as a bank. They were independent and had helpful staff. Now I need to cope with Chase folks.
@MACEGER, #15:
> Since I live paycheck to paycheck, this doesn't
> matter all that much to me.
Why, you planning to be dead this time next week? 8. Dude, it's only money... small blue-green pieces of paper... Drop out! Join us down here at the park, in my plastic-bag teepee! Life's good and the dope is cheap. And hey - free wifi!
@Kathryn, #19: AFAIK no depositors have lost money anywhere in the world to date. The whole commotion with IndieMac and Northern Rock in the UK and now WaMu about "the need to avoid panic" - the fear that's been putting the mad glint in the eyes of Messrs Bernanke and Paulson - is that the moment a bank *really* goes down, ie., without a Fed-arranged buyout (WaMu) or nationalisation (Northern Rock), and actual mom-and-pop depositors are on TV standing at the end of a long queue outside a shuttered branch saying "Well, our life savings are in there, I sure hope it's safe" -- every other bugger will be running to pull into a safer short-term storage, such as a shoebox under the bed. It's kind of a year-zero scenario. Everyone's net wealth resets to zero, plus the open market value of whatever they own... or more accurately, everything they possess... I'm sure I don't need to spell out the difference :(
#20 - Nice memorial. I liked Wamu too. I really hope they don't start changing policies around too much.
Suprise Butsecks!
i cant wait to see the next website update where they slap in the pic of that kid flipping off that elderly lady.
@21:
Cool! So this is a 'Panic in the Year Zero' thing, huh?
Damn, I knew I should have kept those supplies I saved for the Millenium!
C'mon,
Vista that isn't all that bad. I'm typing this using the built in speech recognition. It's only taken a half hour to login, and an additional 1/2 hour to type this short message. Vista is so powerful and convenient that is a small price to pay to see a relatively powerful machine slow to a crawl doing the most basic tasks. It's an exercise in Zen. It's good for you. Really.
Now let's see if I can submit this without losing everything.
@#24 SANTELLANA:
Whoomp, here it is.
Seriously:
Join a credit union. Small, local, run by their members. Insured, by a different insurance system.
Credit unions are the way banks were before they were turned into nation-spanning enablers of MBA pyramid schemes.
Bye bye WaMu. Thanks for the memories of the lowest interest rates I've ever seen in my life. Hope you like your homeless shelter.
This may not be the best forum to ask, but I fear a mild bit of FUD crawling up my spine about it:
Those of us with accounts and mortgages held by Washington Mutual have nothing to be concerned about as long as we continue meeting our end of things as usual, right?
And I do also hope they continue the same banking policies as before. No minimums, no fee for the first overdraft in a year, completely free personal checking... they really are a friendly, no-nonsense bank. I hope they stay that way.
Airpillo: We have close to the FDIC insurance maximum in an account at Washington Mutual; to the best of our knowledge, there is very little to be concerned about, even for those with more than $100,000. Mortgages will probably be fine as well, though if they can adjust the rates it's quite possible that they will.
Personally, I've always thought that WaMu didn't act like a serious bank. We had people there forget to call us back about half-million dollar transactions; the website never seemed to work correctly and always seemed amateur; they were unable to come up with a solution to our overdraft issues (BoA would waive overdraft fees for us because they understand our situation, for example); they once "lost" a $10,000 stop payment we submitted and honoured the check anyway; and now, of course, they were loony enough to collapse as well. Far from being a no-nonsense bank, they always seemed like very much a nonsense bank for larger clients with more complex needs.
Hobo Chaser to counter the woe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbpRp5vZtAU
Update on interest rates: J.P. Morgan accepted all interest-bearing WAMU accounts at the contract rate. This is verified, now, in the updated press release on the FDIC website. (http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/wamu_q_and_a.html)
WAMU is continuing to offer 1-year CDs at the 5% rate. J.P. Morgan has apparently given them a green light to to do this. The big losers in this are the WAMU stockholders (and, possibly, a number of WAMU employees).
Definitely less new-customer-friendly. Guess they gotta project that serious image. "We aren't kidding around!" (No, but you've done more than enough jacking around.)
--Mike
"very little to be concerned about, even for those with more than $100,000."
Very little, huh?
One of the reasons that the FDIC wanted to sell WaMu is that the insurance costs would have emptied FDIC's funds.
What happens when FDIC runs out of money?
This maybe the end of the beginning.
This bailout is not all bad. If I never have to hear the word "WaMu" again, that's one good thing.
This is like watching a fast-action movie in lots of cars get wrecked and blow up. So are WaMu depositors protected or not?
I dunno, but we're sure not bagging on Sarah Palin this week are we?
BUMMER. i live in southeast florida where almost all banks and customer service in general really SUCKS OUT LOUD. bank of america being about the freakin' WORST. wamu was the one place where i got decent customer service, was never nickel & dimed, and ANY deposit i made showed up immediately - not later in the day or sometime the next day or next week. i weep and mourn the loss of the one place where i was treated well and felt like i was a valued customer. good bye wamu, and thank you for treating me so well for about ten years. i guess the banks that don't give a crap win out. let's see how long it takes for chase to piss me off.