Washington Mutual Online Savings Account Opening Process and Review

I’m the first to admit that I need another online savings account like I need a hole in my head. Nonetheless, when WaMu bumped their interest rate to 4.00% APY, I decided to open an account and see firsthand what they’re all about. Having an account will also make it that much easier to take advantage of their online CD offers, which have recently been in the neighborhood of 5% APY for 12 months.

Strengths of Washington Mutual

While it was the high interest rate on their savings account that initially caught my attention about WaMu, I’m mostly looking forward to taking advantage of their online CD offers. After all, who couldn’t use a guaranteed 5% return over the next 12 months? Despite making their fair share of headlines amidst the recent economic turmoil, WaMu is FDIC insured, so your money should be safe.

In addition to the generous interest rates, other perks include free checks for life, cash back on debit card purchases, no monthly maintenance fees (as long as you open both a checking and savings account; more below), one free NSF or overdraft fee per year, numerous brick and mortar locations, and free ATM withdrawals.

Opening an account

Given the above, I decided to give WaMu a try. What follows is a walkthrough of the account opening process. While this post is somewhat lengthy, the entire process took less than ten minutes.

Step 1: Initiate your application

Simply visit WaMu and click on “Apply Today.”

To get the 4.00% APY and no monthly fee, you need to open both a checking and a savings account — but don’t worry, they’re both free!

Step 2: Enter your personal information.

On the following screen(s), you will be asked to provide your name, date of birth, social security number, driver’s license number, and contact information. Pretty standard stuff. If you’re opening a joint account, you’ll have to enter this information for both account holders.

Step 3: Confirm your identity.

Next, you’ll be asked a few questions drawn from your credit record. This is done in order to make sure that you are who you say you are. In our case, we were asked about the different places that we’ve lived in the past. These are multiple choice questions, so you just select the proper answer from a list of option.

Step 4: Verify your account selection.

Just double-check to be sure that you’ve selected both the checking and savings account before proceeding.

Step 5: Fund your account.

When it comes to funding your account, you have several options — make an electronic transfer, use your debit or credit card, or bring it in to a brick and mortar location.

We opted for an electronic transfer, so we simply had to provide the routing and account numbers for our main checking account. Over the next few days, they’ll be making a pair of trial deposits (and a matching withdrawal).

The next step

That’s all there is to the account opening process. All in all, it was very quick and easy. In the next couple of days, we should be receiving the trial deposits. At that point, I’ll just have to check exactly how much they deposited (it’s usually a few cents) and then hop back on over to the WaMu website to verify the amounts.

Published on September 24th, 2008 - 18 Comments
Filed under: Banking
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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18 Responses to “Washington Mutual Online Savings Account Opening Process and Review”

1. 1
   WiseMoneyMatters Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 9:07 am

   Thanks for this walkthrough. I’ve got about $100,000 I need to deposit into an account after my house sells while we look for a new house. I was thinking about WaMu, but was worried given their recent headlines. I know they are FDIC insured, but I just don’t want to deal with the hassle if they do go under.

   I may go ahead and do it though. That 4% looks nice.

2. 2
   john Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 9:38 am

   WiseMoneyMatters – you probably want to split that between two accounts, as I believe the FDIC insurance cap is 100k.

   nickel – let me get this straight – you can fund your account with a *credit card*? I’m sure certain crazies will be interested in doing this just for the cashback on their card.

3. 3
   Eric Deckman Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 9:39 am

   Wouldn’t be prudent…It’s only $4000 if you leave it there for a year. I wonder how big the locks on the door will be in a year’s time. Buffet wouldn’t do it. Always ask “WWBD”. What would Buffet do?

4. 4
   Matthew Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 10:01 am

   This walkthrough convinced me to go ahead and open an account there. I guess it just pointed out how simple it was. I had been planning and planning on doing it, but hadn’t gotten around to it, so thanks!

   -Matthew

5. 5
   WiseMoneyMatters Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am

   John,
   Yes I understand that the cap is $100,000. I’m not sure if I will have over or under $100,000 after I pay off all my debts (1 credit card, 2 cars, current mortgage). It’s right around that number though. Anything over $100,000 will go into the Money Market account I already have at BoA.

6. 6
   jennifer Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 12:11 pm

   so if you fund your account using a credit card, does that count as a cash advance?

7. 7
   g Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

   Ditto on the concern that funding with a credit card will be a ‘cash advance’ – which will include fees, immediate interest accrual, and likely no ‘reward’/'points’. I would investigate further before funding with a credit card (But if it does count as a purchase ~ that would be awesome).

8. 8
   WiseMoneyMatters Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

   You can usually use a Debit Card as a Credit Card for such transactions.

9. 9
   Chris Benard Says:
   September 24th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

   I’d also like to know about the “credit card” part. That’s what caught my eye. If it’s a “purchase”, I’ll be all over that, likely up to my limit and then pay it off immediately, creating a pseudo-transfer with a hell of a lot of cash back (Chase Freedom).

   Yes, I know it caps out at $600 3% cash back each month, before someone says that, but I’ll take the 1% too.

10. 10
    TheMightyQuinn Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    I opened a free checking and online savings last night. I’ve also been buying their CDs. If enough people did this, it might help WaMy stave off collapse.

11. 11
    george Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    umm…a few things: one, listen to what Jim Cramer has to say about WaMu; secondly, remember you have limited withdrawals from their SAVINGS account, this wasn’t stated when I signed up and whereas ING emailed a warning, WaMu dinged me $10, then emailed me.
    They also have a black hole time period every night and sometimes for days when you don’t know, really, what the balance is in your account.
    Oh, whether its me or WaMu, I cannot download directly into Quicken for Macs no matter what they say.
    Not worth it to me.

12. 12
    nickel Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    George: The Quicken Mac problem isn’t limited to WaMu. I can’t get it to work for a wide variety of banks. It appears to be a Quicken problem more than a bank problem. Also, the limitation on withdrawals applies to *all* savings accounts, it’s not WaMu’s rule.

13. 13
    Dinesh Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    Confusion is Me, what is the potential risk that I would be facing by opening a savings account in the new wake of the economic scenario? Simply, would I get my hard earned money back, jst in case the bank goes kaput? Kindly advice.

14. 14
    nickel Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    Dinesh: WaMu is FDIC insured, so as long as you respect the FDIC insurance limits, you should be fine.

15. 15
    Dinesh Says:
    September 24th, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    Thanks Nickel, I’m heading to WaMu Online

16. 16
    Chris Desmond Says:
    September 25th, 2008 at 9:14 am

    I called WAMU and “Ken” said credit-card funding does NOT result in a cash advance, but instead just like a regular purchase, on my credit card. Eager to reap $200 tax-free dollars using my penfed.org VISA card for a $10k online savings deposit, I clicked away, only to be told by WAMU’s online computer no, one can only deposit $300 that way. But I like the ACH-funding option, and it was otherwise smooth and efficient.

17. 17
    Paul Says:
    September 25th, 2008 at 8:29 pm

    Lol! Your WAMU account is now a Chase account. great timing.

18. 18
    TheMightyQuinn Says:
    September 25th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    Well, it was fun while it lasted.