History

It started with a fire. In June of 1889 a burning glue pot started a fire that quickly engulfed much of the city of Seattle Washington. Within months the Washington National Building and Loan Association was born for the purpose of helping to rebuild the devastated city.

In February of 1890 the new savings and loan made the very first monthly-installment home loan ever made on the West coast. The $700 loan was used to build a home. The idea of the monthly loan caught on instantly and the Washington National Building and Loan Association had soon made more than 2,000 loans which helped to rebuild 250 blocks of Seattle housing.

In 1923 the now-renamed Washington Savings and Loan Association began its school savings program to introduce children to the concept of savings. On the very first School Bank Day almost 17,000 children opened accounts and made their very first bank deposits. Well over 100,000 children have been introduced to the concept of saving since this highly-successful program began.

Washington Mutual has always been a leader and an innovator. In 1962 the savings and loan installed the first banking computer system west of Minneapolis. By today’s standards the refrigerator-sized computer with about one third the memory that a wristwatch has today was laughably primitive – but it clearly demonstrates Washington Mutual’s commitment to always provide its customers with the best service available.

When America’s inner cities began deteriorating in the 1970s it was Washington Mutual that created the Step Rate Loan which allowed low-income borrowers to quality for loans to improve neighborhoods.

After taking the company public in 1983, the company’s assets have increased dramatically and today Washington Mutual is one of the largest and one of the strongest banking institutions in the United States

Recently, as part of its continuing commitment to keeping communities strong, Washington Mutual has pledged $375 billion dollars to community redevelopment loans over a ten year period.