Seven (7) years ago, my mother deposited her paycheck and child support check in an automated teller machine at night at the Washington Mutual Bank on Orange Avenue in Orlando, Florida. Two days later, she wrote out her rent check and went grocery shopping. My sister and I were children at the time. My mother's check was refused at the grocery store and her rent check bounced. There was more than enough money between the two deposited checks to cover both transactions.
My mother called the bank and a teller told her that THE BANK lost the paper copy of the child support check from the ATM machine. Because of this, the teller said, my mother's bank account was frozen and no checks were being honored, even though the paycheck went through. The teller said the account would not be released until my mother furnished another copy of the child support check. My mother immediately contacted the Child Support authorities and they said they could not issue a new check until after two weeks when they were certain that no one had cashed the check.
Because Washington Mutual kept all monies from both checks (even the paycheck), my mother was served an eviction notice. Because my sister and I were children at the time, County Officials stepped in and paid our rent and electric, contingent on that when the bank released Mother's funds, she would repay the county. Catholic Charities also gave us a food basket because we could not purchase food because of the frozen funds.
The child support check came through and Mother deposited it. But — Washington Mutual never released her bank funds. They kept all $700. Mother called several times asking why and the reply she got was that she had accumulated numerous bank fees because of the bounced check (which would not have bounced had Washington Mutual not frozen Mom's funds because THE BANK lost the child support check). The bank said it would not release any of Mother's money. Mother still had to repay the county, and we were financially hurt for many moths after that.
Mother consulted an attorney and was advised to file a complaint against the bank with the Federal Banking authorities. Mother did. Washington Mutual Bank retaliated by reporting Mother to the ChexFile System. Washington Mutual Bank has been renewing their report against Mother every year for seven (7) years. A recent media article said that people were only to be kept on this silly reporting system for five (5) years. Obviously, Washington Mutual is intentionally discriminating against my mother by filing these yearly reports.in addition, the bank stole the money from her child support check and paycheck, never releasing the funds as promised.
To add to Washington Mutual Bank's gall, they sent me an invitation to open a free-checking account. The nerve!!! They screwed our family once, they are not going to do it again. The only thing they will get from our family again is a lawsuit.
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