Washington Mutual is largest US bank collapse

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080926/ts_ ... organ_news

If you reside in Oregon, Washington, California, or Florida and are
a client of Washington Mutual, guess what? You're SCREWED! {sort of}

To clarify, Washington Mutual DID NOT merge with JP Morgan.

Steve walks warily down the street,
With the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,
Machine guns ready to go

Thank god we won't have to see any of those stupid commercials any more...

That bank spent ridiculous amounts of money on advertising, and gave huge mortgages at low payment rates to anyone who could photoshop a paystub... it's not surprising they went under.

People who have money in WAMU banks probably won't notice any change... their bank will still be their bank, only there will be a new sign put on it and their monthly account statements will now have a different name on the envelope...

Also, Washington Mutual has some branches in New Jersey.

Concerning the commercials, you will still see them,
but they will say "JP Morgan" instead of "Washington Mutual" at the end.

we are NOT 'screwed'

not unless we have more than $100,000.00 USD on deposit which is fully insured by the FDIC.

anyway,

JPMorgan Chase & Co. became the biggest U.S. bank by deposits, acquiring Washington Mutual Inc.'s branch network for $1.9 billion after the thrift was seized in the largest U.S. bank failure in history.

Customers of WaMu withdrew $16.7 billion from accounts since Sept. 16, leaving the Seattle-based bank ``unsound,'' the Office of Thrift Supervision said late yesterday. WaMu's branches will open today and depositors will have full access to all their accounts, Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said on a conference call.

WaMu is the latest casualty of a financial crisis that drove Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and IndyMac Bancorp out of business and led to the hastily arranged rescues of Merrill Lynch & Co. and Bear Stearns Cos., which was itself absorbed by JPMorgan. WaMu in March rejected a takeover offer from JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.

As the late Freddie Mercury would have said: "another one bites the dust."

They deserved the death penalty. One of the banks that delayed posting deposits, and then hit people with NSF at $50 a pop. Do that a million times it adds up, to the customers withdrawing their money.

About 10% of the banks should not be in business, they should go back to used car sales.

Last I checked, the NSF fee at WaMu was $33, not $50. Not that this invalidates any of the rest of your point, of course, Inventor...

I guess I'm lucky that my account is currently overdrawn by over $100 (thanks in part to those very fees). If the bank were to collapse totally, I'd actually make money!

We took out our home equity line with WAMU, since our first had been sold to them and we just felt better about only having one lender involved with our house but, I must say, they were idiots. We were literally shocked and appalled at everything in the process, from how little they asked for in issuing the line, their reaction when we suggested a smaller line would be more appropriate (and literally told them we could never pay it back if we drew the full they were offering), the errors in paperwork, and the errors in posting the first few transactions with the account. That was when I first realized how much had changed in the lending industry from the last time we had taken a loan.

No one should be shocked that so much collapsed. Lenders were playing loans like a ponzi scheme. Many ordinary individuals saw it. That those at the top either didn't see it or figured they could get away with it still blows me away. They really need to pay a penalty for their neglegence, but how to do that effectively and fairly is difficult.

My family will be fine. We'll just be making our payments to someone else. The small checking account I have there is insured.

But I wish they hadn't been so greedy. The smaller bank they bought up years ago, where I originally had my account, was good and solid, and I loved banking there. That WAMU and it's incompetence ever had to swallow it up is a shame.

oh, I am not shocked, I follow the news pretty closely, even obsessively.
I just came back from the bank, I always go for my 10 bucks in quarters every weekend for laundry change, and they were just as blase' as were the customers. I did stay up until midnight to see my paycheck deposit (and watched Letterman skewer McCain for lying to him!)

But I did notice they had all the signs with only a very small WAMU logo, the senior teller told me (when I asked) that they had been instructed this morning to put out the already stocked smaller branded signs but nothing else. We both agreed that no news was good news and I went on to the next store to do my shopping.

Merle

" The world will never be the same again"


????? I want to get paid for saying things like that.

Over time, half of the Fourtune 500 vanishes every decade.

The names do, assets are bought by sound business, at fire sale prices, which is good.

It is the natural correction of getting rid of those who have an unreal view of business.

The buildings are still there, the bank workers, the deposits, the only thing lost was the value of WaMu Stock.

Stock Holders elect Directors who hire Managers.

It was the stock holders who wanted high returns from taking on high risk, they got it.

The American dollar has not been hurt, we do that in other ways.

Our position in the world has not changed, we are the largest debtor nation.

If you import more than export, the world becomes filled with dollars, which buy bonds, and then we pay interest on our debt. The oil producing states and China hold lots of bonds.

When Bush took office gold was $340. Now it is around $900. By that measure 60% of our outstanding debt was canceled. With a strong dollar, we would owe more on our debt.

Saddam had bales of hundred dollar bills, so do south American drug lords, it is all worth a lot less now.

If your house is worth $500,000, or half that, it is still worth one house, no matter what the numbers. In 1980 it was $40,000.

All paper money not backed by gold or silver has become worthless. Interest rates are a measure of the rate of decline.

The problem is in buying more than you sell. Then you are in debt. The only way to continue is to reduce the value of your money, paying old debt in now cheaper dollars.