If you have a WASHINGTON MUTUAL CREDIT CARD be very careful!
I never thought this would happen to me.
I was spending late December in San Francisco with my family. Had cash in one pocket and my beloved WAMU card in the other. We were set to enjoy the Holliday and my girls and wife were thrilled.
At a family dinner reunion, that I was planning to pay, the waitress pulled me aside telling me the card was declined. I had paid off the balance completely in November as I do not like to keep a balance on my cards. My face was red from embarrassment. My family and friends thought I was ill. I ran to the cash machine because I honestly thought someone was perhaps using my cards.
I called Washington Mutual the next day where a well mannered customer service agent named Elmo informed me that my credit had been reduced almost $4000! He also informed me that a letter should be arriving explaining this matter further. I was stunned. How very corporate and sanitized a blow it was.
When the letter came, they wrote that Wampum's "mission" is to make sure their customer are "responsible and reliable" in using there credit. (I asked if they thought pulling someone's credit line without notice, much less a decent explanation, to be "responsible".) They claimed that they periodically review customer credits and felt they were "protecting" me. So I pulled my credit and noticed all my cards were at zero except for a $3000 Credit Union card I use for business... My score wasn't that bad 650... They approved the card early this year with that same score
I proceeded to close the account. Also, cancelled my home refinance with them. Being in the mortgage business I also cancelled my wholesale relationship we had. I don't know if they care... They're so big. But they pretend to be so darn approachableIt's a Wolf in Sheep's clothing I tell you.
So this is what I recommend anyone to do. Put some money in your local credit union (tons out there now) Open a CD account. Lock it for a year and they'll lend you a Visa Credit line against it. It's easy and in the meantime you'll still earn interest on the CD.
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