It has been a while since WaMu was taken over by the FDIC and sold to JP Morgan Chase for a fraction of its worth. I still have accounts with WaMu even though I despise Chase. I had switched over to Commerce Bank–now TD bank–a week prior to the FDIC take over. I was staying abreast of the news and discovered that a few bank runs on WaMu branches were happening across the country. That was a clear sign to me that things were going wrong.

WaMu is still operating as the WaMu I knew. I don’t expect it to stay this way forever. When Chase bought Bank One, it was only a matter of time before all traces of Bank One was replaced with Chase. Ironically, I did have an account with Bank One. They were certainly not as good as WaMu.

WaMu was the first bank where I opened a checking account and is the absolute standard that I hold banking to. In that sense, I am sure I am a little spoiled. I am also a college student without the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that need to “protected”. WaMu provided the services and friendly customer service that I have taken for granted.

As fantastic as customer service is supposed to be at TD Bank, it still doesn’t feel remotely as warm as WaMu did. It still feels like an impersonal bank. WaMu made banking a different experience. I’d say it was better.

WaMu never charged me a million random fees. Their free checking was really free. No minimums. Nothing. They had free checks for life. That is free checking. I have not since found a bank with a similar national scale that offers the same or comparable service. It just does not exist.

Once upon a time, a check from work had bounced–a risk when working with barely funded start-ups–and I incurred a ton of overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees. WaMu graciously refunded me the majority of the fees. They didn’t have to but, they did. Their newest free checking offerings includes a free overdraft/NSF recovery. It really is the thought that counts.

WaMu also employed Check 21 where checks are cleared immediately after you deposit them. TD Bank does not do that. It is a little riskier on WaMu’s part to put some trust in the newly deposited check but, that’s exceptional customer service. Sometimes you just need access to the money immediately. And I find it hard to believe that with today’s technology, we can’t instantly confirm the availability of funds in other bank accounts.

The other day, I had left my ATM card in the machine by accident. I’ve done it once before. I fault it on getting used to TD Bank’s ATMs as they have a card sliding system. Both times that I’ve left my ATM card in the machine, I was able to retrieve it at that branch. I’m sure other banks offer the same service. The difference is the attitude of the employees. The teller was exceptionally nice and retrieved my card for me when I told her I had left it in the machine the night before. It is the little things that make WaMu different.

The gift to Chase is unfortunate. Not only did the FDIC rob shareholders of WaMu but, they have effectively taken a bank that was really changing the playing field and gave it to a bank that only maintains the status quo. JP Morgan Chase is big, mean, and who really likes them? Who recommends Chase because of their phenomenal service? I’ve never heard it. Everyone knows Chase because they are so big and “stable”. Their service is sub-par at best.

No one can know if WaMu’s business model was viable in the long run. It is also unknown whether WaMu would have been in the same financial condition without the Federal Reserve induced boom and bust cycle. It is entirely possible that WaMu would have made the same bad choices without the government forcing it down the their throats but, it would have been a lot less likely.

What would have never happened would have been a sale of WaMu for $2 billion to Chase. WaMu had $143 billion in deposits. That alone justifies a bigger price tag than $2 billion. The government is creating monopolies as it has all throughout history.

WaMu was a casualty of the economic cycles that the government creates. I will probably miss them once Chase finishes the destruction of WaMu. I just hope that once Chase lays off a rather large number of former WaMu employees that a new bank with similar beliefs as WaMu will surface. There is at least a single demand for such a bank.