Washington Mutual Online Banking

Washington Mutual is now owned by Chase Bank, which is taking over Washington Mutual Online banking credit cards now.  Those Washington Mutual credit cards are now Chase cards, but offered from the Washington Mutual Online credit cards website.  We here at Savings Accounts 411 thought we’d have a look at them to let you know what’s offered now.

Right now at Washington Mutual Online credit cards, the Platinum is one of the top offers.  This card has a 0% annual percentage rate (APR) for 12 months and then rates as low as 9.24% APR.  Balance transfers to this card are also at 0% for the first year.

For the new or returning student, the Student Rewards card may be the answer from Washington Mutual Online banking credit cards.  These have a 3 month 0% APR with rates after that as low as 13.24% APR.  This card is a good offer for the student who needs to keeping establishing credit.

Several specialty cards from Washington Mutual Online credit cards are also available, focusing on businesses or brands with reward points towards purchasing from them.  These range from Volkswagen to Surbaru to Starbucks to Amazon.com.  These are fairly standard credit card offers, but have the added incentive of the Washington Mutual credit cards points towards purchases at the brand.

Overall, there are great offers from Washington Mutual Online credit cards right now, all well worth looking into if you’re in the market for a new card.

Washington Mutual Online is becoming Chase Bank.  So all of the mortgages are now going through Chase as well.  They are still labeled as Washington Mutual Online banking mortgage offers on the WaMu website, however.  We here at Savings Accounts 411 thought that, since a home mortgage is the largest of your investments in life, you might want to be brought up to date with what’s available now.

Washington Mutual mortgage offers come in 30 and 15 year fixed rates as well as 7/1, 5/1, and 1/1 adjustable rate mortgages (ARM).  Assuming you have 20% down and good credit, we looked at what is available right now for single family homes as primary residences.

For a 30-year fixed, you will have two choices depending on the number of points you wish to accept and the annual percentage rate (APR) you’d prefer.  For 1.125 points, you can get a 5.912% APR and for 2.250 points, you can get a 5.381% APR.

For a 15-year fixed, you also have two similar choices.  These Washington Mutual mortgage offers have 1.0 points for 6.089% APR or 2.125 points for 5.380% APR.  Good offers from Washington Mutual Online banking mortgage office.

Adjustable rates for a 7/1 are at 1 or 2 points with a 5.205% or 4.841% APR respectively.  A 5/1 ARM from Washington Mutual Online comes in a 1.0 or a 2.125 point offering with 4.628% APR and 4.442% APR respectively.  The 1 year ARM is at 4.239% APR.

These are some strong Washington Mutual mortgage offers worth considering if you’re in the market for a home loan.

We had an overview of the Washington Mutual Online banking mortgage offers a couple of days ago, but didn’t get very in-depth with the rates available.  So we here at Savings Accounts 411 thought we would get more nitty-gritty with the WaMu mortgage rates offers from Chase Bank right now.

For this comparison, we’ll assume an average credit history, 10% down payment, and will look at both fixed and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM).  Of course, your actual Washington Mutual mortgage rates will vary from these, depending on credit history and circumstances, but these will give you a good idea of what’s realistically avaialble in WaMu mortgage rates.

For a 15-year fixed rate, these circumstances would give an annual percentage rate (APR) of 4.857%.  A slightly higher rate on a 20-year fixed of 5.207% APR is also available.  The more traditional 30-year fixed Washington Mutual Mortgage rates would be at 4.601% APR for this loan type.

For ARM loans, a 5/1 would be at a 4.64% APR for the fixed term while a 3/1 would be at 4.575% APR for the fixed term.  While adjustable mortgages have gotten a bad name with the current economic problems, they can be the right choice for some people.  So don’t count them out.

Overall, the Chase / Washington Mutual Online banking offers for WaMu mortgage rates are definitely competitive.  Rates will change, of course, with the market and the Fed’s interest, and what you qualify for will depend on your individual circumstances.

Washington Mutual Online banking currently has three certificates of deposit to look at.  To keep you up to date, Savings Accounts 411 will look at both the Traditional and the WaMu Online CD offers, which are both through Chase Bank as the merger between the two banks completes.

For Traditional Washington Mutual CD rates, the returns are based on the balance of the certificate deposit.  Terms are from 1 to 120 months.  For up to $99,999 in deposit, these annual percentage yields (APY) range from 0.25% (1-17 months)  to 1.0% (18-59 months) and to 1.50% (60-120 months).

This WaMu CD is worth looking at for those who prefer to open the account personally and have in-branch service.

For those who want a minimum deposit of $1,000 and prefer much higher yields, WaMu Online offers Washington Mutual CD rates at tiered levels from 6 month terms to 60 months.

Short term 6, 8, and 12 month terms are giving yields of 1.25%, 1.35%, and 1.50% APY respectively.  A special 13-month term gets a yield of 1.75%, so if you’re looking at the one year, you might consider adding a month for the extra APY.  Another special is the 2 year term, which gives a whopping 2.0% APY while the 60 month term gives a 2.5% APY for depositors.  For comparison, the 18 month rate is 1.50% and the 36 and 48 month terms give 1.75% APY.

So there are some good offers for Washington Mutual CD rates if you’re interested in checking out Washington Mutual Online banking.  These accounts will hold their rates even as they move over to Chase.

Washington Mutual mortgage accounts are being moved to Chase Bank as the merger gets completed logistically.  Soon, Washington Mutual Online banking will be Chase Bank too.  Right now, new WaMu mortgage inquiries are being forwarded to Chase Bank.  So we here at Savings Accounts 411 thought it would be a good idea to see what the offers for home mortgage and equity loans are at Chase.

There are several new home loan options from Chase (Washington Mutual mortgage) in 30-year and 15-year fixed rates as well as 7/1, 5/1, and 1 year adjustable rate mortgages (ARM).  Rates are competitive on the fixed mortgages, with WaMu mortgage (Chase) being around the 5.42% annual percentage rate (APR) for average credit holders.  ARM loans are at about that rate for the fixed period as well.

For home equity loans or lines of credit, Chase (WaMu mortgage) has some great calculators for checking rates and offers.  For debt consolidation, home improvement, and all kinds of uses, this can be a great time to get in on a home equity loan.  Check out the latest Chase offers before deciding on your Washington Mutual Online banking offer.

Rates vary regionally and with the current market and Fed rates, so check often before making a decision.  As Washington Mutual Online banking moves to Chase, many of their offers are merging, so be sure to know the latest before you lock in.

Most people know now that Washington Mutual Online is becoming Chase Bank.  Those with a current WaMu credit card will be getting a Chase card soon.  For those interested in new credit card offers, we here at Savings Accounts 411 thought we should look at what Washington Mutual credit card offers are available now.

When you click on the credit cards link on WaMu Online, you’re taken to the Chase Bank website credit card offers area.  There’s a lot of offers to choose from, but we’ll look at the most intriguing here for comparison.

The Low Interest card from Chase (Washington Mutual credit card) is worth considering merely for its low interest of 9.24% annual percentage rate (APR) to 13.24% depending on credit.  It includes a 0% APR for the first 12 months for transfers and purchases.

The 3% Bonus Cash Back WaMu credit card (Chase) is another popular choice.  And for good reason.  The variable rate is low (under 18.24%, as low as 9.24% with good credit) and with a 0% fixed APR for a year on balance transfers.  All purchases of gasoline, groceries, and fast food get 3% cash back for the first six months.  Everything else gets 1% cash back and there’s no annual fee.

A host of specialty cards for those who shop Amazon, are AARP members, like SonyRewards, need a student card, want Starbucks rewards, and more are also available.  With Washington Mutual credit card offers going to Chase now, there are a lot of offers and incentives to choose from.  Definitely worth a look.

Most people should be aware by now that Washington Mutual has been merged with Chase Bank.  For banking customers, this likely won’t change much, but we here at Savings Accounts 411 thought we should look at the Washington Mutual Online site to see if anything should be reported.

If you’re wondering about the WaMu.com change to Chase, there is a great article explaining the merger and what it means for WaMu Online customers.  All of the Washington Mutual Online banking features are still on the site and won’t change except for the title, so those used to WaMu Online will find they won’t have a learning curve in the switch.

If you have a mortgage with Washington Mutual, you will be interested in the mortgage information listed on WaMu.com including what the change to Chase means for your mortgage (probably not much, but a free refinance opportunity may catch your eye) as well as some valuable information for homeowners who’re behind on payments.  WaMu Online has a great article about the new housing plan and options from the government that could be of use.

If you have a CD or IRA through Washington Mutual Online, you will find that the terms will stay the same until the period is up, so your investments are safe.

Overall, there is some good information for you if you’re a WaMu.com customer at the website.

Prior to Chase’s acquisition of Washington Mutual Online Banking, the Washington Mutual CD rates were always some of the best bank interest rates.  Since the takeover by Chase Bank, the WaMu certificate of deposit rates have fallen, but they are still high CD rates.

WaMu 5% 5 Year CD Rates:

One of the best WaMu CDs right now is the WaMu 5 year CD.  These currently carry 5% 5 year CD rates.  For a WaMu 60 month CD, 5% CD interest rates are great current CD rates.

12 Month WaMu Certificate of Deposit:

The 12 Month WaMu certificate of deposit is currently paying a 2.75% high rate certificate of deposit.  While 2.75% APY is the the highest current cd rates for 12 month CDs, it is still a high rate certificate of deposit.  If you are a WaMu customer, you might not care about finding the highest currect cd rates, but instead the ease of saving money with WaMu outweighs the reduction in CD interest rates.

So check out the Washington Mutual CD rates.  I think that you will like the WaMu 5% 5 year CD rates.

Washington Mutual CD rates have decreased slightly since the Washington Mutual JPMorgan Chase acquisition.  However, the WaMu CD rates are still very competitive.  Here is a list of the current CD rates along with the associated CD terms.

Only time will tell if these rates stay competitive, but for now these WaMu CD rates are worth taking a look at.

Less than a month ago, we announced that the WaMu Online savings account rates were increased to 4.00%.  Well, that did not last long. Washington Mutual Online Banking has dropped the WaMu online savings account rates to 3.00%.

Many will be wondering whether this move was forced on Washington Mutual from JP Morgan Chase.  It has only been a couple weeks since the JPMorgan Chase acquisition of Washington Mutual.  Many at the time that WaMu increased the rates of its WaMu online savings account to 4.00% wondered if they did so in order to increase their cash reserves in an attempt to survive their demise.

Now that JPMorgan Chase have acquired Washington Mutual, Chase Bank might have decided that there is no reason to maintain the high 4.00% savings account interest rates.  We will have to wait and see if the WaMu online savings account stays as one of the top savings accounts in the nation.