Words from the (investment) wise for the week that was (Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2009) Battle-weary investors remained skeptical of a banking quick fix and endured more grim economic fodder during the past week, causing US stocks to hit their lowest level since 1997. After the worst January (-8.8%) on reco...

WaMu went on an insane building spree in Chicago a few years ago, and when combined with Chase, already a huge player in the Chicago market, it became obvious that there are just too many damn bank branches. Chase recently announced that it would close almost 300 WaMu locations nationwide — 57...

Call me Inga: When I was in college, I worked at a local electronics store. Through a chain of corporate takeovers, they eventually wound up in the hands of the now defunct Circuit City. Sent to the company HQ in Richmond, Virginia for advanced training, I went out to dinner with a group of locals. ...

Reader James says he doesn't want all this crap that the teller at WaMu forced on him earlier today. The Frisbee sucks, he doesn't like caramel corn, and his refrigerator isn't magnetic. James says: I banked at an drive-through of WAMU in Vancouver, WA earlier today. When making a deposit, I was giv...

It looks like after March 1, 2009 quondam Washington Mutual cum Chase customers won't be able to get their FICO scores for free anymore through their bank. Those people in the picture look pretty excited about yet another WaMu feature being taken away. Woohoo, indeed. [Chase] (Thanks to Luke!)...

Time magazine has launched 100 “Top Ten� lists of 2008. The magazine is courting page views with its slideshow format (garnering 10 page views for each list instead of one), so to save you time, dear readers, I’ve pulled out all the private equity mentions. Sadly, private equity did not make ...

It’s not easy transforming the demonized landlords who homogenized New York City streets with a seemingly endless supply of storefront banks into sympathetic victims. But the federal government, rarely the achiever of the impossible, has done just that. Here’s how. As The Observer reported last ...

Reader Kevin is upset with WaMu because they closed his credit card due to inactivity. Had he known they were going to do this, he says he would have been happy to pay a small fee to keep it open, etc. The card is the oldest one on his credit report — and closing it has affected his FICO score...

Whoever came up with the name "courtesy overdraft fee" is one smart cookie. They figured out a way to let you do something you don't want to do, charge you a fee, and make it sound like they're doing you a favor. WaMu is one of the few banks that let you... ...opt-out of "courtesy overdraft fees" so...

Whoever came up with the name "courtesy overdraft fee" is one smart cookie. They figured out a way to let you do something you don't want to do, charge you a fee, and make it sound like they're doing you a favor. WaMu is one of the few banks that let you... ...opt-out of "courtesy overdraft fees" so...