WaMu Cash Balance Pension Plan - Partial Preliminary Settlement

Seattle, WA: If you participated in, and were entitled to accrue benefits in, any of the following plans (referred to collectively as "the Plans"), your rights may be affected by the settlement of a class action lawsuit:

1. The WaMu Pension Plan (referred to as the "WaMu Plan") immediately prior to January 1, 1987, and your accrued benefits or pension benefits are based in whole or in part on the WaMu Plan's cash balance formula, from January 1, 1987 to the present;

2. The Great Western Retirement Plan (referred to as the "GW Plan") immediately prior to January 1, 1997, and your accrued benefits or pension benefits are based in whole or in part on the cash balance formulas of the Great Western Retirement Plan and/or the WaMu Plan, from January 1, 1997 to the present;

3. The Dime Bancorp Inc. Retirement Plan (referred to as the "Dime Plan") immediately prior to April 1, 2002, and your accrued benefits or pension benefits are based in whole or in part on the WaMu Plan's cash balance formula, from April 1, 2002 to the present;

4. The Pacific First Bank Retirement Plan (referred to as the "PFB Plan") immediately prior to April 1, 1994, and your accrued benefits or pension benefits are based in whole or in part on the WaMu Plan's cash balance formula, from April 1, 1994 to the present;

5. The H.F. Ahmanson & Company Retirement Plan (referred to as the "Ahmanson Plan") immediately prior to July 1, 1999, and your accrued benefits or pension benefits are based in part on the WaMu Plan's cash balance formula, from July 1, 1999 to the present;

6. The GW Plan immediately prior to January 1, 1998, and your accrued benefits or pension benefits are based in whole or in part on the WaMu Plan's cash balance formula, from January 1, 1998 to the present, but only with respect to such participants not described in Section 2 of this paragraph;

and all beneficiaries, alternate payees (including spouses of deceased Persons who were WaMu Plan participants), Representatives and Successors-In-Interest (collectively, the "Settlement Class").

The proposed settlement has been preliminarily approved by a federal court in Seattle. If the settlement receives final approval, it would resolve a class action lawsuit alleging failure to provide notice of reduction in rate of benefit accrual and other alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ("ERISA"), in connection with the Plans identified above.

The proposed Settlement Agreement provides for a payment of $20 million and other considerations to settle all claims against the defendants. The proceeds, minus the expenses described in the Settlement Agreement (which include notice and administrative expenses, Court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses and case contribution awards to the plaintiffs who brought this lawsuit, and other costs related to the Settlement) will be paid out of the WaMu Plan and allocated to members of the Settlement Class who were participants in the plans listed above when they joined the WaMu Plan in accordance with a Plan of Allocation contained in the Settlement Agreement, and as approved by the Court.

If you qualify and the proposed settlement is approved, you will be entitled to receive such an allocation. If you received notification of this settlement in the mail, you do not need to submit a claim or take any other action unless you wish to object to the settlement. However, if you did not receive such notification in the mail and believe you may be a class member, please call the toll-free number 1-866-612-5778 to provide your identifying information so that Lead Counsel may determine whether you are, in fact, a member of the class. The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington authorized this Notice.

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Published on Sep-24-10