I have a wee bit of money in WaMu as I use that debit card for online transactions. I was a WaMu customer* in toto years ago, but when a credit union gave a presentation at Wa He Lut one year I switched to them (they sent a email the other day, "Your money is safe").

I STILL have a wee bit of money in WaMu and was looking at the online banking site on Tuesday or Wednesday, just poking about (it was unchanged) because people kept screaming, "Get your money ouuuutttttttt." As I say, it's just a bit.

On Thursday WaMu was siezed and sold to Chase, which, I read, cherry-picked the less FAIL bits. Today I went to see the Wamu website and there's (of course) a notice:
WaMu Customers, Welcome to JPMorgan Chase!
We're proud to welcome you to one of the nation's largest banks; as of September 25, 2008, All WaMu customer deposits are now deposits of JPMorgan Chase, one of the strongest financial institutions in the world.Too bad it didn't say All your base are belong to us, but anyway, here we are. A link led to a press release:
JPMORGAN CHASE ACQUIRES THE DEPOSITS, ASSETS AND CERTAIN LIABILITIES OF WASHINGTON MUTUAL’S BANKING OPERATIONS
Highly attractive, strategic transaction significantly strengthens consumer franchise.

It made me wonder if "certain" is like "certain death." I felt a puff of pride as my wee bank account was included in the "highly attractive" reference. So now I have a wee bit of money in Chase, which reminds me irresistably of my old snail-racing days, as one place we'd race was Chase's Manhattan.I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised at this series of collapses as the weakness was quite obviously and openly moving throughout many areas for a number of years.

*When I first moved to Washington my bank was Central Federal, which I thought was a hilarious name - a blank name. They were a weird, small bank and did things like give plastic piggy banks away, and toasters, and operated like it was 1951 and housewives everywhere bought Duz washing detergent for the rose-patterned towels buried in the powder. I thought the whole thing was a scream. Then they merged and became Central Evergreen Federal, then Evergreen, and I left as there was nothing interesting about the name Evergreen. That's when I put my 11 cents into Washington Mutual. It was more convenient than my former bank as it had... branches... haha!