Washington Mutual

About Washington Mutual

The largest bank failure in US history. Washington Mutual, a Seattle based savings and loan, failed on September 25, 2008, during the financial crisis. WaMu had grown aggressively through subprime mortgages and option ARM loans that allowed borrowers to pay less than the interest, increasing the principal. When housing collapsed, WaMu lost billions. Depositors withdrew 16.7 billion in 10 days. The OTS seized the bank and sold it to JPMorgan Chase for 1.9 billion. WaMu shareholders were wiped out. The bank had 307 billion in assets and 2,239 branches. The failure dwarfed all previous bank failures and demonstrated the depth of the subprime mortgage crisis.