Last Day for WaMu's 5.10% 7-Month Add-On CD read and submit comments for this post

I just confirmed that today is the last day to open Washington Mutual's 5.10% APY 7-month Add-On CD. I just called their toll-free number at 1-866-808-1396. According to the CSR, it's available to people in any state if you open it by phone. This is different that what I've been told before, so please leave a comment if you're told something different. If you open the CD today, the CSR said that they'll require you to have the check in the mail within 2 business days. You can also do a wire transfer to fund the CD.

A WaMu checking account and new money are required for this special CD. The minimum deposit is $1,000. The add-on feature allows you to make additional deposits up to the amount of the intial balance during the term. This doesn't seem to be listed at WaMu.com. It has been advertised in several papers. Here's an online ad from the Dallas Morning News.

The checking requirement isn't that bad since you should be able to choose their free checking which has no monthly fees and provides free checks and wire transfers. Plus, once you have the checking, you're qualified for their online savings account which currently has a yield of 4.75% APY with no minimum balance requirements.

Success for Savings Program Update

For those in Texas, Georgia and Illinois, WaMu is still offering 6.50% APY on its Savings for Success account (5.50% APY for those in Washington State). This program limits the amount you can put into this account to $500 monthly automatic transfers for a one year period. It also requires a checking account. So you'll have to make sure the checking account is funded through the year to allow the monthly automatic transfers. At the end of the year, the money is transfered into a sweep savings account. According to the CSR, this can't be the online savings account. Please see my review of this program for more details.

WaMu Overview

WaMu has been hammered by the credit-market meltdown (see article). However, according to the article, its retail-banking segment has been doing fairly well with $278 million in profit in the fourth quarter. One interesting note in that article is that their income from banking fees grew by 13%. That's surprising considering their free checking account is one of the better ones. This article from yesterday describes how WaMu is planning to place more reliance on its retail banking in 2008.

WaMu is FDIC insured under two banks (Washington Mutual Bank FSB and Washington Mutual Bank).