Customer Service Review of Washington Mutual Credit Card

A credit card that I had with another company was turned over to Washington Mutual about a year or so ago. Since I'd seen their commercials on television, I figured that this was an improvement. However, I already had a credit card that I used for daily purchases so I rarely used this card. A few months ago, I received a balance transfer offer from Washington Mutual. Feeling that it was a good deal, I contacted them.

The man I spoke with offered me two choices: a check mailed to me or a check mailed directly to the creditor. I was uneasy about them paying off the company directly since it was a loan rather than another credit card. However, I did not want to pay that daily interest while it took time for the check to arrive, clear my checking account, and then be mailed to the company I was paying off. The representative assured me that Washington Mutual could pay off the loan directly without a problem.

The company never got the check from Washington Mutual.

The first time I called Washington Mutual about this issue, I was told that the electronic transfer failed and that they had to physically mail a check.

The second time I called, I asked them to what address was the check mailed. I was told that they would have to contact another department and for me to call back in about five days to find out the address. This sounded very suspicious and my concern grew. How could they not know where the check was mailed?

I called for the third time a week later and was told the exact same thing as the previous call. They said the address request was never entered into the system.

After almost two months, a representative with the company that the check was sent to encouraged me to contact Washington Mutual to stop payment on the check for my own credit's safety. She even noted my account that, if they received and deposited the check, I was not to be charged for the check bouncing due to the stop payment.

I called Washington Mutual again and spoke with a manager. I explained how it'd been almost two months and that the entire situation was completely unacceptable. After all, I was losing money daily on interest from the other company. But more than that, it would be a serious problem if the check had been lost and was stolen.

The manager I spoke with blew off my concerns about the check possibly being lost in the mail and said to call back in another week to find out where it had been mailed. I told her that they needed to do a stop payment since so much time had passed. She argued that it hadn't been that long until she looked at a calendar. Realizing that I was right, she did a stop payment. Then she informed me of the $35 charge.

I was appalled that Washington Mutual had assured me of their ability to handle this transaction without any information from me aside from the company name and account number, but then wanted me to pay for the stop payment after they clearly sent the check to the wrong address. All she would say is that they did not know it was the wrong address since the other department hadn't gotten back to them yet with the address where Washington Mutual had mailed the check.

I informed her that I was closing the account. Since charges cannot be added to a closed account, I was never billed the stop payment fee. It has been three months now and the other company still hasn't received the check. I wonder whatever happened to it.