US Banking System + Washington Mutual (WaMu)

[Xzin]

It will still impact your credit but I have heard of instances of that and don't doubt it in the least.

[Drizzit]

There is this weird thing going on. I don't promote this, and I wouldn't even try it myself.

But with all the companies imploding, and mortgages bouncing around like crazy, and foreclosure happening left and right.... a lot of the paperwork is getting lost. What do I mean you ask?

When you buy a house, you sign the note. Thats how the company "owns" your mortgage. That thing can change hands = who you make your payments too, and who can rightfully collect those payments.

Well, from what I read, a lot of this required paperwork is getting outright lost in all the transfers. Some shady people are letting there mortgages foreclose, then when they go to court they say "please show me proof that I owe you money". And the courts are apparently siding with the borrower when the "new" leader / note holder can't produce anything.

All and all, this is just a lawyer came to delay things, but I'm reading its working for some people.

True, but it is a huge risk that you have to take. I really suck at chances, so my luck and i will go to the court and ask for the paper work and i can see the other lawyer saying i can do one better, he is the paper work, he is the pen you signed with that has you finger prints on it, he is the video tape of you signing (in color with sound), here are the witnesses that saw you sign all the paper work, and here is the rest of the water that you asked for and didn't finish... Well at least i will get to finish that water.

[Havelcek]

I'm on a consulting engagement at Merrill and my wife works for AIG...nuff said.

[Sanctume]

I thought you were posting about a new US server and a new guild forming there.

The chart also made me think it's a decline in WoW subscription from the few handful of players playing Warhammer.

[xyzzy]

Xzin hardly needs my voice to lend him credibility, but I'll throw this out there as a securities analyst for a wall street investment bank (thankfully not one of the two going away today). We've spent a lot of time analyzing various financial institutions' exposures and looking at the systemic backstops.

While the risks of having more than $100k on deposit at any single FDIC-insured institution are fairly well known, no one should be relying on the FDIC to provide security on their short-term funds. Yes, regulators are likely to be there to protect your money and you shouldn't lose much sleep over the seventy five grand in your savings account. However, if you need money short-term, (eg for closing on a new home, funding education expenses, starting a business, etc) the process of getting access to your cash may take longer than is reasonable for your needs. Don't expect the FDIC to provide immediate access to "your" money in the event of a bank failure. You'll get what is yours, it just may take some time.

Anyone banking with institutions at risk of going away (a list that is much longer than most people believe, even after this weekend's news) should take a serious look at moving funds they need in the next few months to a safer bank.

edited for too many prepositions in the final sentence

[KSboxers]

Multiboxing bank runs

[Ellay]

I suppose at this point none are 100% solid but from the current status what would everyone say they feel is the most stable / safest banks at the moment.

[Mac]

Anyone banking with institutions at risk of going away (a list that is much longer than most people believe, even after this weekend's news) should take a serious look at moving funds they need in the next few months to a safer bank.

Where would one find such a list?

[xyzzy]

The situation is much more complicated than credit union good, thrift bad. (Meridien Federal Credit Union and New London Security FCU failed in July, Port Trust Credit Union failed in August.)

Without going into ratios of nonperforming assets to tier one capital, access to captive or wholesale funding, and a bunch of other "stuff" that no one here should really care about, you should generally be more comfortable at banks that generate most of their liabilities from deposits and haven't loaded up the balance sheet with assets they don't understand. How can you find this? Short of paying a few hundred thousand dollars for bespoke research or spending eighty hours a week reading financial statement footnotes for a few months, you can't.

You may want to avoid banks on this list for starters. For what it's worth my money is at JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

More pew pew, less financial meltdown please.

[Skuggomann]

Lol, i like living in iceland (most of the time) XD

I got this bank called "pillow" and i put my monney in it and no one takes it away form me