BS: Washington Mutual fails, too

Subject: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Alice
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 10:25 PM

Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual to J.P. Morgan Chase. The remainder of WaMu, the nation's largest savings and loan, will be operated by the government. Shareholders and some bondholders will be wiped out. WaMu depositors are guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. up to the $100,000 per account limit. WaMu seized, then sold so it doesn't fail

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 10:35 PM

About 5 years ago, it was said that Washington Mutual was going gangbusters, that it was the place to invest.
Glad I didn't.
I sure hope the more conservative investments I chose, don't go down the tubes, too. I was banking (excuse the term) on retiring from the government, but my job got privatized and my pension cut in half, so I'm depending on investments.
Grrr.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Amos
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 11:05 PM

Damn.

Now I have to go find a new bank.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Sep 08 - 11:26 PM

Damn, now I have to go find new money, said several million ...

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Suffet
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 07:18 AM

Greetings,

My wife and I have money in WaMu, but far less than the $100,000 limit. We moved some of our funds to HSBC last week, not because we were afraid of being wiped out, but because we were concerned that a bank failure wouldn't be seemless. There was just too much risk of our accounts being inaccessible for days, even weeks, which has sometimes happened in the past.

By the way, we never opened an account with WaMu. When we first moved to this neighborhood in 1976, we put our money into Lincoln Savings Bank. Lincoln was taken over by Anchor Savings Bank, which in turn was taken over by Dime Savings Bank. Dime was later acquired by Washington Mutual.

Our WaMu ATM/debit cards should work OK, but I will find out in about half an hour when I leave for work. Let's see if merchants honor ou WaMu checks today.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Rapparee
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 09:16 AM

WaMu has an office inside our local Fred Meyer store. Wonder if the ATM there still works?

I think I'm going to put my money in a chest and bury it on Spyglass Hill in my backyard. Hmm...I'll have to kill a crew member to guard it, of course...I think I'll use "Pissant" Percival and if anyone tries to dig up the treasure (such as it is) he can whine about it until they give up and leave.

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 01:21 PM

The Washington Mutual ATM on 108th Street in Forest Hills, NY, worked just fine at 10:30 this morning. But inside the bank were 100s of people (mostly elderly) lining up to take their money out in cash. It was a purse snatcher's paradise.

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 01:24 PM

When hundreds of people start lining up to take their money out, a bank doesn't stay open long.

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 03:02 PM

Don't worry about the bank staying open. JP Morgan Chase made out like a bandit paying pennies on the dollar. WaMu's real estate assets alone are worth many billions, and all that "worthless" paper they are holding won't be worthless once congress approves the bailout. On top of that, cash is still flowing in from direct deposits, EFTs in business accounts, credit card payments, car loan payments, and even mortgages. (Not every WaMu mortgage is delinquent. The vast majority aren't.) Maybe the net cash flow today is negative, but in the long run JP Morgan Chase is coming out way ahead. I looked again at 2:15 and there were no lines. The panic has passed and the management of JP Morgan Chase is smilling all the way to the bank, so to speak. First they bag Bear Stearns and now WaMu. I wonder who's next.

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 04:08 PM

Washington Mutual is on the ottom left http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/crash.jpg

they had a run and lost 16 billion in deposits being withdrawn

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 04:39 PM

And the mail person just dropped off my mail, including...A letter from WAMU telling me I was pre-approved for a 0% fixed APR(until 01/03/2010)
credit card (with a $7500 credit line).

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Don Firth
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 04:49 PM

I heard someone comment in an interview on NPR this morning that the transfer was essentially seamless and the WsMu depositers should not even notice any change.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Bill H //\\
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 04:52 PM

Sad news. One of the better banks in the various local areas they operated. Quite personal and helpful. Sad part, also, is that had the Calif. customers not started, basically, running on the bank they might have weathered the storm since the customer base is huge. It has to be said, as well, that the old mgmt. made a big mistake in not taking an $8 / share offer---the CEO wanted it but the board members just did not want to take their losses (as now all the investors had forced on them).

On the bright side is that--unlike 1929 time---the transition was seamless for the depositors. JPM/Chase is now Bank #1 and, basically, got a gift from the gov't.

Oh yes, another nice thing ---the new CEO has been there less than, I believe 3 weeks---severance package---over 11million. Frankly, the times have changed and this seems obscene.

I did own some stock but, happily, sold because of a stop / loss order. Too bad---I kept the faith in the bank until the end and the folks at my local branch are just worried that their jobs are in jeopardy 6 months down the line since CHase has a branch about 3 blocks away. There seem to be more bank branches than grocery stores these days

Bill Hahn

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Donuel
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 05:22 PM

there will only be 5 banks in the end

Subject: RE: BS: Washington Mutual fails, too
From: Bill H //\\
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 06:25 PM

Sounds like a poem coming up here---10 little indians and so on---and then there were none.

Geo. Orwell---how prescient you were. Just off in the timing.

Bill Hahn