I’ve gotten several offers from Washington Mutual bank to open an account and receive $100 free. You can do this online, on the phone, or at the bank. But you have to have a designated code which can only be used once.
Photo: Cute piggy bank from Marie Claire Publications.
I finally decided to sign up with them last week. It was very easy and the bank representative was very friendly. From my own personal experience, I prefer the older and more experienced representatives. They seem to know what they are doing and give you proper information too.
In order to get the $100, you have to deposit $100 first and keep your account open and active for 3 months. There are some really neat things offered by WAMU that I did not know of before. Such as free money orders for customers. Most banks would charge at least $5 or more for this. But then again, when do I really need to use money orders!
Washington Mutual was in financial trouble a couple of months back (as many banks were in October 2008). But they have now merged with Chase and received a government bail out. So they must be trying to get more people to sign up now. Chase is also another bank I have a credit card with and will post about that later. I like their service but may have a change of heart soon.
I used to bank with Washington Mutual years ago, but then I closed my account. I found the bank to be too crowded, the lines too long. And as friendly as the bank tellers appear, they always seem fake. They call you by your first name immediately and start acting as if they’ve always known you. I wouldn’t mind it so much if it was genuine. But it somehow felt so forced, like how real estate agents are only nice if they want to sell you a house.
I used to also bank with Bank of America. But their service has been going downhill. I used to like that bank since it was where I had my first “student” account. But that was a long time ago. The tellers and bank representatives are not as friendly as WAMU, a bit on the rude side really. And the lines are always too long. And they charge you for money orders. I would not recommend this bank at all. The only thing they have going is that it’s a large bank with many ATM’s. But with credit cards and traveler’s check, I don’t worry about ATM’s anymore.
Update: I did get my $100 about 45 days later. Which is good as they said it would take about 90 days.
On a side note: Last year my mom went to open an account with Bank of America because they would give her $50 free. Getting everything set up took 1 hour. Three months later she never even got the money.
The young lady who opened the account didn’t complete her job. She never entered the “code” in the computer. But she did keep the coupon with the code and who knows what she did with it.
After hearing that story, I was weary about using this coupon code with WAMU/Chase bank. And I can never trust that these representatives would do a good and complete job.
There are much more horrible stories you can read here from Consumer Affairs.
