So what's the catch with Washington Mutal Free Checking?

[Passions]

I already have a BofA account and was looking to open another checking acct, but this WaMu deal sounds too good to be true. There must be a catch somewhere. No Direct deposit requirement? No minimum balance requirement? HMMMMM.....


No monthly fee, no matter what your balance
Free teller access
Free unlimited check writing
No direct deposit requirement
Free check safekeeping
Free return of canceled checks
Free Visa® Classic Check Card
Free account access at over 2,700 Washington Mutual ATMs nationwide
Free 24/7 Telephone Banking and automated account information
Free Personal Online Banking with Personal Bill Pay? service
Free ID Theft Services
Free Combined Statement
Free enrollment in the WaMoola for Schools® program?an easy way to benefit your favorite school with your Washington Mutual Visa Check Card purchases

 

[Syrch]

From my experiences it is what it is, no strings attached.

 

[CVSiN]

ive got it it rocks

 

[puffff]

i have free checking too, no minimum balance, unlimited checks, online bill pay, etc, the 'catch' is i dont get any interest.

 

[Passions]

Originally posted by: Syrch
From my experiences it is what it is, no strings attached.

BUT NOTHING IS EVER FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. NO NOTHING!!

How can they make $$$ then?

 

[welst10]

The catch is that you have to be a WM checking customer.

 

[ggnl]

<insert bad Soylent Green joke here>

 

[Drekce]

I got a flyer in the mail from them last week that says they will give me $75 if I open one of thier free checking accounts and use direct deposit. Account has to be open for 90 days and DD must occur within 60 days of the opening. I am going to go down there later this week and sign up. The cool thing is that I can control my DD from my paycheck rather easily, i.e. I can DD $10 a pay period into this account, wait to collect the $75 and close it.

 

[CPA]

Originally posted by: Passions

Originally posted by: Syrch
From my experiences it is what it is, no strings attached.

BUT NOTHING IS EVER FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. NO NOTHING!!

How can they make $$$ then?

The interest they receive from investing your money that you deposit in their bank.

 

[notfred]

There are fees for using non-wamu ATMs. They're cumulative and I have a few dollars taekn out of my account at the end of every month for ATM fee bullsh!t.
And the overdraft fee is $21.50.

 

[brtspears2]

Since I have next to nothing in the bank, earning no interest is no big deal to me.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

compass bank sends you free checks for life and reimburses ALL ATM fees + all the other stuff too iirc

 

[Passions]

Originally posted by: Drekce
I got a flyer in the mail from them last week that says they will give me $75 if I open one of thier free checking accounts and use direct deposit. Account has to be open for 90 days and DD must occur within 60 days of the opening. I am going to go down there later this week and sign up. The cool thing is that I can control my DD from my paycheck rather easily, i.e. I can DD $10 a pay period into this account, wait to collect the $75 and close it.

WOAH WOAH WOAH....$75 flyer???

 

[badmouse]

They make their money the same way other banks make money on checking accounts - the fees for bounced checks, etc. This does sound like a good deal, however.

 

[CVSiN]

they also make money on the better versions of this checking account...
the free is just the bottom flavor...
they have some silver and gold and platinum accounts you have to pay for...

 

[Eli]

Why is it too good to be true?

I have the same thing, only with Wells Fargo.

 

[ky2pip]

What was said above and WaMu has less branches and ATMs than banks like BofA and Wells Fargo...been using it since it was still Great Western and have no complaints

 

[cHeeZeFacTory]

its been free for years now, whats the big deal

 

[The Stigenator]

wamu sucks....

they grew tooo big and have issues.. go with wells fargo free checking or US Bank free checking. US Bank gives a LOT more than WAMU will ever give. without all the fscking headaches.. like your checks being deposited but not showing up for 10 days... delayed transactions etc etc.

my gf and I both had trouble with WAMU. Her even so more than me, I Will say AVOID!

 

[Passions]

Originally posted by: TheGoodGuy
wamu sucks....

they grew tooo big and have issues.. go with wells fargo free checking or US Bank free checking. US Bank gives a LOT more than WAMU will ever give. without all the fscking headaches.. like your checks being deposited but not showing up for 10 days... delayed transactions etc etc.

my gf and I both had trouble with WAMU. Her even so more than me, I Will say AVOID!

Dang, 10 days huh? SNAPS

 

[The Stigenator]

with US bank I get:

1. Free checking with interest. (students can use the student checking - which gives an savingss acct, but deal is that it should auto transfer 25 from checking to savings each month).
2. Free Internet Bill Pay - yes i meant free.
3. Free ATM transactions at other banks without fees from your bank. Meaning I can go retrive money from WAMU ATM and not pay a fee for 6 transactions, after which you get charged, but not sure how much.
4. They scan all your deposit slips and stuff online, so you got a record online.
5. They have a page for "pending transactions", which wamu never had.. this way you know exactly what you got and how much.
6. At no time will you wait more than 5 minutes (at times 10 max) for a teller. I remember waiting 45 minutes for a WAMU teller in Glendale, CA
7. I get a visa check card and I got options for "mileage","points" or "cashback". I took cashback at 1%.

Go US BANK, WAMU IS SUCK!

 

[abaez]

I've had wamu ever since is gobbled up Home Savings here in CA, the only thing I see bad about it is that they charge you $1 every time you use another banks ATM's (plus whatever fees at the ATM you pay.) Get's to be like 3 bux everytime you use an outside ATM.

Plus the website was down constantly a few months back, it has been better now but it is always down late at night.

 

[Gibson486]

Lots of banks offer free checkign with no strings attached....

How do they make money? they dont, but any money you put on there bank is money they can use (ofcourse you get it back when you need it).

As for ATM fees, i dont recall that many banks that let you go to outside ATM's w/o the surcharge. I know Compass bank does reimburse andsome credit unions do. I goto soveriegn and i get reimbursed for the outside ATM fee, but not the debit fee. Also, the over draft fee of 21.50 is nomral at all banks unless you get overdraft protection.

Ofcourse though, one way soveriegn bank makes money is by which checkign account you have. They reserve the right to charge a different price for certian things. I have free checking at Soveriegn, but they charge me $5 for a money order and $10 for a bank check. If I had there regular account, i would only be charged $3 for amoney order.....

 

[Pixelated]

wamu sucks....

they grew tooo big and have issues.. go with wells fargo free checking or US Bank free checking. US Bank gives a LOT more than WAMU will ever give. without all the fscking headaches.. like your checks being deposited but not showing up for 10 days... delayed transactions etc etc.

my gf and I both had trouble with WAMU. Her even so more than me, I Will say AVOID!

The only reason why your deposit might not have shown up for days is probably because you deposited a large check and it had to be held. It is a federal regulation and not just Washington Mutual policy. Any other bank would do the same. They would make an exception if you had a long history with them or a lot of money with that bank.

Also, banks make money off of loans, fees, investments, etc. So it's easy for any bank to give away a checking account for free.

 

[The Stigenator]

Originally posted by: Pixelated

wamu sucks....

they grew tooo big and have issues.. go with wells fargo free checking or US Bank free checking. US Bank gives a LOT more than WAMU will ever give. without all the fscking headaches.. like your checks being deposited but not showing up for 10 days... delayed transactions etc etc.

my gf and I both had trouble with WAMU. Her even so more than me, I Will say AVOID!

The only reason why your deposit might not have shown up for days is probably because you deposited a large check and it had to be held. It is a federal regulation and not just Washington Mutual policy. Any other bank would do the same. They would make an exception if you had a long history with them or a lot of money with that bank.

Also, banks make money off of loans, fees, investments, etc. So it's easy for any bank to give away a checking account for free.

A 400 dollar check isnt a lot of money, and this was late in teh game, when i was a customer for over a year to 2 years.. the point is that US Bank even with a 5 grand financial aid check will add it to the account in 2-3 days max. Sometimes it shows up overnight.. But 2 days on average at max.