
Myungha of Claremont, CA on Jan. 24, 2009
My husband and I have an joint account in Washington Mutual, and On Jan 11th, we deposited a check for $4,000, and on 13th, we deposited another check for $46,000, both from my mother-in-law. She uses Bank of America.
Then on Jan 14th and 15th, on our wamu online banking website, we found out that there were ATM deposit adjustments due to missing endorsements. We did not sign the back of the checks.
So I called the Wamu call center and talked to a representative. I asked them if we should deposit a new check, and the representative told me that checks CAN clear without endorsements and that I should wait a few days for the checks to clear.
I could have easily deposited new checks from my mom-in-law again, but following the representative's words, we waited.
However, even after a few days on our Wamu website, it only showed that there is a "Temporary hold(s) on previous deposit(s) and funds never became available for our use.
Then on Jan 20th at 9:33AM, we called the bank again and asked them how long we would have to wait. Then the representative told me that the bank is legally able to hold a check for up to 10 days, and I would be able to use the money on Thursday, if the checks were not returned to Wamu. The call lasted for 12 min and 01 sec on our cell phone.
Then we waited until Thursday. We could have deposited another check for the same amount, but if the previous checks DO clear and the new checks clear also, my mom-in-law's bank account would be overdrawn, so we just followed the wamu call center representative's words.
On Thursday, I checked the Wamu online banking website again and our Available Balance was about $41,000 and Ledger Balance was about $200. Wondering why there is such a difference between available and ledger balance, I called the call center again at Jan 22nd, 10:16 PM. Then another representative told me that because these are checks for such large amount, they are going to hold it for 2 more business days, and the funds will be available on Monday.
I started to lose trust in what these call center representatives are telling me, and my husband and I really needed the money by Monday to pay for our grad school tuitions.
Today morning at 10:35AM, I called Wamu call center again, and I got connected to a supervisor. Her name was Jen May. Then she finally told me that our checks, the ones we were waiting to be cleared, were actually mailed back to us on Jan 14th and 15th.
I had called the call center three times before but none of the representatives had told me this information. I complained to the supervisor, and she just said "there is no proof" that these reps gave me the wrong information.
I told her that there is sufficient proof and I have the evidence of the calls I have made. And I told her that Wamu needs to take responsibility for the action of its employees, and Ms. May just said there is nothing that she can do.
Also, I found out today that my credit card payments to Capital One and Wamu were returned for insufficient fund. They were 2 payments for $50 each. However, my account balance never went down under $100. This seemed to me like a clear bank error.
I called the call center again at 11:24AM and inquired about this problem and the representative told me that they had put a hold on my entire ACCOUNT, not just the checks. He said this was a legal action by the Money Laundry Law. He said that he will not write a letter to the credit card company admitting that there was a bank error to get rid of my returned payment fee.
None of the call center reps had told me that my entire account was put on hold.
Because of these returned payments, the credit card companies are charging me returned check fees. Also, my credit rating was damaged.
Also, if we are unable to pay our tuition on time by Monday, there will be late fees for approximately 120 dollars.