Open Letter to WaMu: My refusal to pay my $8,000 WaMu (Providian) VISA card due to the 26% interest rate
In May 2007, Washington Mutual more than doubled my interest rate to 26% despite my flawless credit. On 11/15/07, WaMu DECLINED my request for a lower interest rate and disclosed that it utilized FICO and internal credit scores to determine that I am a high credit risk. Greedy vile bankers don’t deserve to get paid and I stopped paying this account. Chase recently announced that it will no longer utilize credit report data to rate existing accounts. What will it take to get WaMu to stop this vile practice?
Christine Baker
[address redacted]
ATTN:
Kerry K. Killinger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Stephen J. Rotella, President and Chief Operating Officer
Todd H. Baker, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy & Development
Thomas W. Casey, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Ronald J. Cathcart, Executive Vice President and Chief Enterprise Risk Officer
Fay L. Chapman, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
James B. Corcoran, President, Retail Banking
Anthony F. Vuoto, President, WaMu Card Services
Washington Mutual, Incorporated
1301 Second Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
Via Priority Mail and fax to 206-554-2778 and 800-809-4236
December 12, 2007
Re: My refusal to pay my $8,000 WaMu (Providian) VISA card 4185 8638 XXXX XXXX
Dear WaMu executives:
I am hereby informing you that I stopped paying my $8,000 WaMu VISA card. It SHOULD be illegal to charge a 26% interest rate for any credit card debt and I’m hoping that this Open Letter will draw the legislators’ attention to your vile business practices.
Why aren’t the WaMu credit specialists smart enough to figure out that they are forcing your customers to default by utilizing flawed credit scoring software? FICO scores are NOT predicting defaults, but CAUSING defaults. Your competitors are finally catching on:
11/20/07: CHASE announced its new policy to no longer utilize credit report data to rate open accounts
http://creditsuit.org/credit.php/blog/comments/chase_finally_stops_increasing_interest_rates_due_to_credit_scores/
At http://creditlegislation.org/activists/forum5/41.html you can read the transcript of my 11/15/07 call to WaMu, resulting in the DECLINE of my request for a lower interest rate.
I have FLAWLESS credit!
You made your business decision to more than DOUBLE my interest rate and I made my business decision to stop paying you.
Soon you will destroy my credit, but it is obviously not worth the paper it is printed on. I will also stop paying every creditor who takes adverse action after your reporting of my WaMu (Providian) Visa as delinquent to the credit bureaus.
Please contact me if you wish to change your credit card rating practices or with any comments for my publications and my upcoming book.
Christine Baker
c: posted at [this URL], at http://mylitigation.net/pr/news/release/open_letter_to_wamu_my_refusal_to_pay_my_8000_wamu_providian_visa_card/ and at other sites.
[Please repost this Open Letter at other consumer and credit sites in its entirety with a link back to http://creditlegislation.org/activists/category3/ as I will update there.]
UPDATE 12/11/07: Both fax numbers for WaMu were disconnected. Did WaMu not pay its phone bills? The toll-free number was provided by a WaMu rep on 12/10.
UPDATE 2/27/08: WaMu’s Suzy Gasca, Customer Relations, responds to my Open Letter with the perfect example of what I hate about banks. Two pages of incoherent banking bla bla bla ...
2-27-08--WaMu-response-open-letter-pub.pdf
I had written:
“Please contact me if you wish to change your credit card rating practices or with any comments for my publications and my upcoming book.”
Instead of responding with changes or comments, they are offering me a lower rate as if I had requested a lower rate in my Open Letter. I have NO clue what that rate would be.
Apparently they still think I’m kidding about never making another payment on this account and that there is NOTHING they can do to make me pay. Notably, I couldn’t pay them if I wanted to as I can no longer access my account online. Don’t EVER allow a bank to stop sending paper statements.
Since I stopped paying WaMu, I saw the MUST WATCH video Money as Debt and I learned how the banking system works.
If WaMu wasn’t a corrupt corporation, it would have announced changes for ALL customers, such as that it would not charge ANYONE over 20% and that it would NOT increase rates due to credit reporting and FICO scores.
Why don’t they sue Fair Isaac for providing obviously false credit scores?
Not to mention that my Trans Union FICO score was over 700 (utilized by WaMu to increase my rate in May 07) when I requested a lower rate in November.
I hope that enough consumers stop paying WaMu to put them out of business.
Some people will never change, they will be murdering predators for the rest of their lives unless imprisoned. You can’t put a bank in prison, but you can put them out of business. It’s the ONLY way to change their vile banking practices.
