“JP Morgan Chase acquired the assets, assumed the qualified financial contracts and made payment of $1.9 billion. Claims by equity, subordinated and senior debt holders were not acquired.” This statement by the FDIC upon the seizure and sale of WaMu made it fairly clear that bond holders, as “equity holders,” would not be repaid.

During the proceeding Washington Mutual bonds debates and lawsuits, however, some concessions had to be made. Many questioned the legality of the seizure and sale of Washington Mutual and none more loudly than the WaMu bonds holders who were expected to count their investment as a total loss. Meanwhile, the hollow corporation left behind as Washington Mutual was (or at least felt that they were) still liable to the holders of Washington Mutual bonds.

Earlier this year, in March, money still disputed two years after the seizure was brought to the fore again, totaling about $4 billion. This money is claimed by JP Morgan Chase, by the FDIC, and by the leftover Washington Mutual corporation. WaMu asked the bankruptcy judge to leave the money in their hands so that they could pay off their primary creditors, who are those with bonds with Washington Mutual.

Added to those original bond holders are new ones, mostly lawyers, who are working on this bond issue case and whose WaMu bonds are another very high corporate debt total.

WaMu Bank CD rates are still used by some customers that are comfortable with the old arrangement. The company offers a diverse amount of CD accounts for its customers. The minimum amount required for these certificates is $1,000 under the regular option and $10,000 under the special certificates.

WaMu CD rates for a 6-month certificates are priced at 0.25% whereas a 12-month investment would also yield the same APY of 1.25%. A 3-year CD investment results in an APY of 1.01%. The company also offers the same interest rate for its 3-year certificates.

The special CD accounts start with a 7-month APY of 0.50% and a 13-month CD with 1.01% APY. The rates go higher for a 24-month CD at 1.50% APY and 36-month CD at 2.00%.

A 4-year CD investment results in an APY of 2.50% whereas a full 5-year CD term would yield 3.00% returns. The company offers an online account opening option and offers the option of either a single CD account or one with a joint ownership. Penalties are imposed in some case in case of an early withdrawal though the bank also offers automatic renewals and other reinvestment options.

Over a year ago, on September 25, 2008, at the close of business day, the assets of Washington Mutual Bank were seized by the U.S. Office of Thrift and Savings on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC then put WaMu into receivership and sold all assets of Washington Mutual Bank (as well as some assets from Washington Mutual, Inc. – the owner of the bank), including all WaMu personal account holdings, to JPMorgan Chase.

The next day, Chase Bank opened Washington Mutual bank branches and later the website with the announcement that they now owned the bank. Banking continued as usual for many customers, though many left the bank feeling it was now unstable.

If you still have a personal account at WaMu, it is a Chase Bank account. If you log in to the website, go into any Chase Bank or old WaMu branch, you’ll see everything from your old Washington Mutual personal account (checking, savings, etc.) is now under a Chase Bank account.

Hopefully this clears up any questions you have about your WaMu personal account. You are free to transact business as normal at Chase Bank to close, move funds, or continue banking with your old personal account at WaMu as a Chase Bank customer.

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.

UPDATE: WaMu online savings rates are now 4.00%.  Use this coupon to sign up for the 4% wamu savings account and free wamu checking account.

One important thing to note is that in order to get these 3.75% wamu online savings rates, you need to also open a WaMu online checking account.  If you do your banking with WaMu online banking, then you should definitely consider open a WaMu checking account and opening a Washington Mutual savings account so that you can get this high interest savings rate.

This high interest savings account offers one of the highest savings rates in the United States.  If you are scared about doing your banking online, the WaMu.com online banking site makes it extremely easy to open a WaMu checking account and a Washington Mutual savings account.

If you are comparing high interest savings accounts, you should check out the wamu online savings rates.  If you have any questions about Washington Mutual savings accounts or washington mutual online banking, please leave your questions in a comment below.

WaMu has two types of savings accounts.  The first is the WaMu Statement Savings account.  This is a traditional savings account that you would find in most banks with physical locations.  The interest rates on this WaMu savings account is low, 0.25%.  With such a low interest rate, I don’t see why anyone would open this account.

The Washington Mutual Online Savings account, however, offers one of the best savings rates.  This Washington Mutual savings product offers a 3.30% APY.  This is a great high interest rates savings account.  However, in order to get the 3.30% Washington Mutual interest rate, you also need to open a WaMu checking account.  By opening a WaMu checking account you get the “relationship rates.”

The WaMu online savings account and Washington Mutual checking account can be opened with as little as $1 deposited into each Washington Mutual account.  This low minimum deposit requirement is a great feature of this savings account.  With only being required to deposit $1, anyone can open a WaMu savings account and start saving money immediately.  But don’t forget to also open a WaMu checking account.  If you don’t, your savings interest rate will only be 0.25% like the WaMu Statement Savings.

Another great feature about Washington Mutual savings is that you don’t have to do all of your banking online.  While the Washington Mutual online banking is great, sometimes you want to be able to go into a local branch to make deposits or talk with the bankers.  WaMu allows you to do this with its WaMu Online Savings.

I hope that you found this review of Washington Mutual savings helpful.  If you have any questions about the Washington Mutual Online Savings account or any other WaMu accounts, please leave them in the comments below.

Washington Mutual Statement Savings Account :

Washington Mutual has two different savings accounts. The first is WaMu’s Statement Savings account. This is a traditional savings account with a brick and mortar bank. If you are just looking for a regular savings account, this WaMu account could be for you. However, the Washington Mutual Statement Savings Account is not a high interest savings account.

Washington Mutual Online Savings Account :

This is the WaMu high interest savings account.  This WaMu Savings Account currently has an APY of 3.30%.  This is one of the best annual percentage yields in the nation.  If you are looking for a high yield savings account this WaMu savings account is a great choice.

The Online Savings Account utilizes the WaMu online banking interface to do you banking.  There is no need to go into a branch office any more.  If you have Internet connectivity, the WaMu online savings account is a perfect way to do you banking.

Some of the benefits and features of this online savings account include,

• only $1 required for the initial deposit
• easy access to your money via the WaMu online banking website
• easy access to your money through WaMu ATMs
• No need to open a Washington Mutual Checking Account

The feature of the Washington Mutual Savings Account that sets it apart from its competitors like ING Direct, Emigrant Direct, and Etrade is that with the WaMu savings accounts you can still use the bank branches.  There are times when you want to visit a bank and talk to someone live.  With the WaMu Online Savings Account you can do this.  This is a great reason to open a savings account with Washington Mutual.

I hope that this review of the Washington Mutual savings accounts was helpful.  We cannot recommend WaMu online banking enough.  If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments below.  We will try our best to answer all of your questions.

Washington Mutual is one of the fastest growing banks in the United States.  It is a full service bank that is comprised of four businesses – Retail Banking & Financial Services, Home Loans, Commercial Banking and Card Services.  Savings Accounts 411 will explore each of these businesses and describe the WaMu accounts and products offered by each of these WaMu businesses.

If you are looking for information about Washington Mutual banking or more general information regarding high interest savings accounts, certificates of deposit, home loans, equity lines of credit, please bookmark Savings Accounts 411.  In addition to covering WaMu accounts, we will also cover ING Direct savings accounts, Emigrant Direct, Wachovia savings accounts and many more high interest savings accounts when we discover great deals.  If you have any questions about Washington Mutual, please leave a comment in any article.  We will try to answer your questions as best as we can.