Washington Federal in Seattle, WA

Solid bank. Excellent services!

Never go to this bank!!!! they suck. There online banking sucks and it takes 5 days for it to show up on your available balance. There customer service sucks. I hate this bank.

Great Location

The branch in Columbia city is fantastic. Everyone remembers and calls you by name and the tellers are fast and accurate. I'm stcking with them unless I run out of money.

Visiting Seattle from overseas, at 6pm last Wednesday the ATM at Washingon Federal, 425 Pike St, shut down as I was mid-way through a transaction using my own card, which I have been using for months in other overseas ATMs, without concern and with adequate funds in the account. The screen went blank and swallowed my card. Obviously in some sort of malfunction, we waited around for at least 20 minutes, unaware of what to do and hoping it would right itself. After photographing the machine's whited-out screen, we finally had to walk away, hoping my card would not be spat out again in the middle of the night. There was no telephone service available except a card cancellation service for Washington Federal account holders only. I rang my bank in New Zealand and was told I needed to resolve it with Washington Federal. Without knowing if I could retrieve my card which would allow me access to the funds I needed, I did not cancel the card as I am unable to access my mail whilst traveling and hoped I could retrieve the valid card. However, the following morning Washington Federal refused to return my card, citing "company policy". I called the branch in desperation on opening hours and at first dealt with a very helpful staff member who appreciated my sense of despair and tried to help. She was blocked by her manager. When I said that I would attend the branch this manager named Chris, immediately called me back and was instantly combative. He could not assist, my predicament was not "his" fault, and I should not to attend the branch. He repeatedly claimed that "fraud or theft" were causes for the machine to swallow my card. When I said that I had photographic evidence of machine malfunction he claimed "we don't know that" and that there would be "no way of finding out". I said I would attend the branch in that case and he suggested he may have to call the police on me! Thankfully an attorney friend was able to attend with me as I was not only stranded without access to the funds I needed, but felt threatened because I was daring to seek a solution to my predicament. We met a couple of decent human beings on staff while we waited for Chris. Unfortunately though, it was Chris we had to deal with. He steadfastly maintained his role as "powerless gatekeeper", whilst repeating his insinuations of illegal activity and refusing to acknowledge the possibility of a faulty machine or even glance at the photographs of the machine during it's malfunction. There was no way for him to investigate what had happened, nor even to tell me if the card was in their possession or had been spat back out of the machine overnight!! If you are visiting Seattle, I recommend you do not under any circumstance use Washington Federal ATMs to withdraw your money. Machines can malfunction and things can go wrong, but companies will usually offer some sort of appropriate response. This was certainly not my experience with Washington Federal. I am making a formal complaint to Washington Federal but am glad to have an outlet to warn other unsuspecting and innocent members of the public.