Consumers Flock to Automatic Savings Product During Tough Economy

Wachovia celebrates opening 1 million Way2Save accounts in just 8 months

CHARLOTTE, NC—Wachovia has helped more than 1 million U.S. consumers save through Way2Save, an innovative savings program that makes it easy and automatic to save money. At a time when most Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Way2Save has helped them feel more secure about the future.

“Motivating more than a million customers to save since the Way2Save launch in January has completely exceeded our expectations,” said Kathryn Black, Wachovia Savings Director. “With unemployment increasing and the market continuing to struggle, helping Americans save is more important than ever.”

Way2Save encourages customers to save by transferring $1 from their checking account into a special savings account each time they make a Check Card purchase or an electronic payment. With Way2Save, customers earn a 5 percent Annual Percentage Yield (APY) plus a 5 percent annual bonus in the first year and a 2 percent APY and 2 percent annual bonus in the second and third years. After three years, a competitive, traditional savings rate is applied. In addition, customers can choose to transfer up to $100 a month to the special Way2Save account to see their savings grow even faster. Wachovia has attracted more than 300,000 new customers and 400,000 new checking accounts through the Way2Save program.

“Our success shows that consumers want tools and education to help them save and an easy way to start saving,” Black said. “With a competitive interest rate and bonuses, it has been proven that Way2Save is exactly what consumers are looking for to help them save. Whether they’re saving for emergencies, education or a vacation, Way2Save helps customers reach their goals faster by saving dollars.”

For more information on the Way2Save program, please visit wachovia.com/Way2Savemedia or see the Way2Save Fact Sheet This document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader..

About Wachovia
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the nation’s largest diversified financial services companies, with assets of $812.4 billion and market capitalization of $33.5 billion at June 30, 2008. Wachovia provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services to customers through 3,300 retail financial centers in 21 states from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwide retail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Globally, clients are served in selected corporate and institutional sectors and through more than 40 international offices. Our retail brokerage operations under the Wachovia Securities brand name manage more than $1.1 trillion in client assets through 14,600 financial advisors in 1,500 offices nationwide. Online banking is available at wachovia.com; online brokerage products and services at wachoviasec.com; and investment products and services at evergreeninvestments.com.