Here is a letter I wrote to a local Houston Washington Mutual branch on September 10, 2001, a month after I opened a small business checking account.

Dear ***,

My relationship with Washington Mutual is off to a bad start.

First of all, when I opened my small business account with you at WaMu's Fountain View branch in Houston about a month ago, you told me my business checks would cost $32-38. I received my statement and I was billed $59.75 That is very frustrating.

Second, when I received my checks, there were no deposit slips included.

Third, my first statement included a $5 charge for VERIFICATION OF DEPOSIT FEE. What is that?! The only verification I can think of was calling the 800 customer service number to check my last 5 transactions. The only two deposits made were 60 cents and 20 cents, deposits made by paypal.com to verify my checking account. So WaMu charged me $5 to verify 80 cents? Come on.

And forth, it took approximately 5 weeks to receive checks for my personal checking account I recently opened. Turns out the first order I requested was never turned in or processed. These checks were originally ordered from the Memorial Drive branch and adds to the frustration of initially dealing with WaMu.

I left Bank of America because of reasons like these, employees not communicating or giving me the wrong information. I don't want to leave your bank as well, but I feel I must unless these problems are rectified.

I would like you to credit my account for the difference in the quote and actual cost of business checks ($21.75) and refund the DEPOSIT VERIFICATION FEE of $5, a total credit of $26.75. My account number is ###############.

I appreciate your time and speedy response.


Thank You,

Joe G.

The results: I was refunded the difference in the check quote, $21.75. I was not refunded the Deposit Verification Fee. I have yet to receive deposit slips for my business account.

On another note, three time I have inquired as to what minimum balance I must keep in my business account to avoid a service charge. The first time, upon opening my account, I was told the minimum balance must be $3500. The second time I asked, I was told $2500. Most recently, when I called about a service charge on my account (which turned out to be a computer mistake and was quickly refunded), the customer service rep told me I must maintain a daily balance of $2000 to avoid a service charge. I have only had this account 3 months and I have been told 3 different minimum balance amounts. It couldn't have changed that many times that quickly.







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