While cleaning out some old bank documents I ran across two different CD's that I had; one was with WaMu, and the second was with Countrywide. I was shocked to see the higher rates they were paying back in 2007 & 2008 when compared to today's rates. I became aware of both CD offers from ads ran in the local newspaper at the time.
The first CD was with Countrywide. I still remember going to their local office in a shopping plaza and opening the CD. Their facility did not look like a bank but more like a real estate office since it did not have any tellers just three office desks. A few months before the CD expired, Bank of America acquired them when Countrywide ran into trouble with those sub-prime mortgages. When the CD matured I went to my local BOA branch to cash out the CD. They attempted to get me to open an account with them but when I found out they wanted to charge me $3.00 ACH funds out that was a deal breaker. I remember getting upset and told them to just cash out the CD on a cashiers check.
They then informed me that they could not cash out the CD since they did not have a signature card from me on file. I informed them that when I opened the CD at Countrywide all those documents were provided to Countrywide at their office during the CD opening process, if they lost the paperwork that was their problem. Over an hour of back and forth calls between the local BOA branch and BOA corporate they finally released the funds on a cashiers check. This was my second brush with BOA. I used to bank with Barnett bank then BOA acquired them dropped the rates and charged fees for services that were previously free. I closed my account and moved out. These experiences fresh in my mind, along with their excess fees, & poor rates has kept me from ever doing business with them.
Countrywide -bank of america
Date Opened: 24 Sep 2007
Maturity Date: 24 Sep 2008
Term: 12 month
Rate: 5.50%
APY: 5.65%
The second CD was with Wamu, they were taken over by Chase prior to the CD maturing. Chase kept the terms of the CD intact but when it came time to renew the CD they were offering an insulting rate, so I cashed out the CD. The CS rep somehow convinced me to leave the savings account open with $5.00 in it at the time. Needless to say withing the year they closed the account and kept the $5.00 I cursed that CS rep for scamming me out of $5.00 but it was a lesson well learned. Looking back now I realize how wet behind the ears I was when it came to investing.
WaMu -Chase
Date Opened: 18/Sep/2008
Maturity Date: 18/Oct/2009
Term: 13 months
Rate: 4.89%
APY: 5.00%
