So, re WAMU bank failure / takeover by JP Morgan Chase… an Update.
I called my credit union that I had my credit card through (University of Utah Credit Union) and I give them 5 stars.
Not only have I NEVER EVER had a problem with the credit card, savings account or anything with them since I moved to Germany (yes, folks, they even forward my statements ot here without a single complaint) – with a single phone call and explanation of the situation, the person on the other end of the phone said:
“Sure, no problem. We can set you up with a checking account, and a money market account using the information we already have on file.”
“Yes, we can issue your checks to you with your German address.”
Me: Can you send the checks to my mom’s house in Georgia? I’m a little concerned because I don’t want all of them here since I don’t need them AND if they get lost, it will be a scary thing.
” I see here you have a US address on file in Georgia as a secondary in case of emergency. We can do that.”
In the end, after a 30 minutes on the phone, and a series of “Yes, we can” and “Sure, no problem” and “Is there anything else we can do for you?” and me asking different scenarios and what ifs….
I hung up the phone feeling like a valued customer rather than like I’d been put through the ringer. I’m now much more relieved about my financial situation, much more satisfied with a customer service somewhere that holds my money than I have been in a long time, and just really pleased that I had decided to keep a savings account there with just enough to keep it open – “just in case”.
Kudos to University of Utah Credit Union. I’m now highly recommending them to everyone I know, and publicly saying THANK YOU! for making it easy to move my business to your Organisation.
First I wake up to find out that WAMU (one of my US bank accounts is there) has failed and been taken over by the feds… with a partial buyout by JP Morgan Chase. It’s supposed to be business as usual… However –
I went and checked my other bank account – which I had transferred funds to and paid a few bills (I have a credit card there) as well. On both the payments from mid September it said “On Hold – please contact issuing bank” which was, of course, WAMU. My reason for transferring? I wanted to make sure that I had some somewhere else in case what happened – well, happened.
I didn’t panic – and yes, most of my funds did remain in WAMU – I moved enough to simply make sure that if there was an emergency I could get back stateside in a hurry.
So, I guess we’ll see how it turns out in the end, and hope for the best.
Then, I checked my email. In my email was a lovely letter from Ryan Air, telling me that my flights for my october vacation had been changed – significantly. Instead of going from October 29-Nov.4, they were moved to October 29 – Nov. 3 – did I still want the tickets?
Well, after researching, I did find later tickets (departing same day – getting back a day later) for 109 EUR – not the 56 EUR I had paid for the previously mentioned ones. So, either I take their crap flights (and lose a day of my vacation holiday) or I cancel them and buy different ones.
Needless to say I will be on the phone (NOT HAPPY GIRL) with them later today insisting that they change the second return flight to the one on NOV 5 (a day later rather than a day earlier) and NOT charge me any fee, and credit the cost of my call AND provide me some kind of bonus as well. *grumble grumble*
And to top it all off, I went to the kitchen to make breakfast. I decided to open a can of instant latte macchiato mix, and boiled the water to make it. I read the instructions – 5-6 heaping tablespoons of the mix into a 8 ounce glass. Add hot (but not boiling water) and stir.
I did.
And then, I decided to taste it. It was like foamy coffee – with salt. We’re talking so much salt that it just was like pouring salt in your hand and licking it off.
Mind you, I drink proper latte’s almost every day at work, so I know what they should taste like. This wasn’t even close – or a quite simply a poor imitation. This was something I don’t even recognize as being drinkable. It got dumped out, down the sink, and then the rest of the mix tossed. I wound up with tea and breakfast granola bar instead.
Anyhow, I decided that it was Friday, and quite simply, the start of a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day”. So, I’d try to find something funny to make myself laugh – at someone else’s misery. This – really – took the cake.
Now, mind you, I thought that the Celene Dion version of ACDC “you shook me all night long” was pretty bad, but at least it was put my fingers in my ears tolerable.
This, however, was by far the worst – and I actually liked the 1981 Soft Cell and 1990’s Marilyn Manson remake of the 1960’s song…. Tainted Love.
I mean this was so bad, I felt like I needed to take a shower, clean out my ears, and burn my computer after watching it. It did, however, make me laugh that they had the nerve to perform it, and be glad that it wasn’t me performing that crap ever.
The Runner up? Brit’s version of “I love Rock and Roll”. Um… well, here ya go.
Finally, for a few shits and giggles – the ROCK version of “baby got back” by the Throwdown.
Yep, I’m feeling better. Oh, and I’m going back to bed. Maybe when I wake up again, I’ll realize it’s all just a bad dream… (probabally not but worth a try, right?!?)
