Washington Mutual is the latest company to step into the financial crisis spotlight. The struggling savings and loan has hired Goldman Sachs to help in efforts to sell itself.
Shares in Washington Mutual fell nearly 10 percent on Wednesday to $2.09; they have plunged 94 percent over the last 12 months. This week alone, investors have been frightened by Standard & Poor’s cutting of the bank’s debt rating to junk.
Needless to say, Washington Mutual customers are freaking out. A quick Google search returns a number of links with titles like:
- Washington Mutual Death Watch
- Help! Should I get my money the hell out of WaMu right now??
- Wamu is next pull your money out!!!!!!
Personally, I wouldn’t trust any advice from anyone who uses more than three !s at the end of the sentence. Despite all of the panicking going on around me, I’m keeping my money in WaMu, and here’s why.
It’s FDIC insured.
My checking and savings accounts combined are well below the $100,000 limit, so I’m not going to lose any money if/when Washington Mutual goes under. I really don’t understand why so many people with balances no where near these limits are worried about this. You are not going to lose your money.
It’s less of a hassle.
The irony of all the people who are rushing to close their accounts at WaMu is that they’ll have to go through the hassle of opening another bank account. Meanwhile, people who leave their money at WaMu will probably experience a fairly seamless transition after it gets bought by another bank or bailed out by the FDIC. This is how the IndyMac transition went earlier this year.
IndyMac customers will have their funds transferred to a new entity – IndyMac Federal FSB – controlled by the FDIC. They will have uninterrupted customer service and access to their funds by ATM, debit cards and checks.
However, customers will have no access to online and phone banking services this weekend, according to the FDIC. Service will resume on Monday.
Just make sure you have enough cash in your wallet to make it through the weekend, and you should be fine. With all the news about WaMu going down, it may seem like I’m the only person leaving my money in the bank, but here are a few others who are doing the same.
- Don’t Start Yanking Your WaMu Accounts
- Should I Stay With A Struggling Bank?
- Why You Might Want To Stay at WaMu
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If you’ve got less than 100K, leave it and don’t worry. Until we can figure out where all the bad apples are, the only bank that looks the safest is Bank of America since they are buying stuff up.
The FDIC does a good job of closing down a bank on Friday and opening it back up again on Monday. The FDIC does not get enough credit for doing an excellent and professional job.