Comments on: Ask the Reader: How Safe is My WaMu Bank Account?

By: chovy

chovy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:51:55 +0000

i couldn’t agree more…the FDIC is bullsh*t when you think about an economic disaster.

By: James Lehan

James Lehan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:22:21 +0000

There was an actual point made on CNN that if there were a massive amount of banks that went under the FDIC would not be able to afford to pay back policy holders. It is insurance and their plans don’t include massive bank failures only maybe 1 or 2.

It is just insurance consider if half the policy holders of say Allstate turned in a huge claim. Allstate may go belly up because they do not have the funds at hand to pay that amount at one time. Some of the policy holders would be left high and dry on their claims.

By: bag-of-money

bag-of-money — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:33:20 +0000

I’m leaning more and more towards a bag-of-money under the bed.

That goes for the 401k, IRA, et. al. too. After 10 years of contributions, and not watching my balance ever increase (unless I’m contributing)…I’m in favor of cash-on-hand.

I’d have more in the bank had I done that, instead of letting wallstreet bleed my savings dry.

There’s a book called “Gotcha Capitalism” that exposes all the hidden fees associated with the scam put into play. What’s to gaurantee that I’ll have a few dollars to retire on? I have no pension, no assets…just my retirement accounts. And if those are bled dry by fees and/or market crashes…then I’ll have zip.

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 03:30:58 +0000

We took our $ out of WaMu last year when they would not match a competing bank’s CD rate (they had in the past or gotten close to it). My Mother-in-law has a large account there and called very depressed about the whole situation.
I think for the elderly it can cause a lot of
anxiety. While I think they may be close to FDIC limits of coverage.

By: Molly

Molly — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:55:36 +0000

The worst thing people can do at this point is rush to pull their money out of WaMu, IMO. If everyone did that, the bank would go under for sure! The money they have on deposit is what’s keeping them afloat. A run on the bank would be disastrous.

As for FDIC insurance, there are many ways you can increase the amount you have insured by changing your account ownerships – add beneficiaries, use joint accounts… it’s really quite easy. They can explain the rules in the branch.

By: Patti

Patti — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:37:04 +0000

The government and Suze Orman just opened a site at http://myfdicinsurance.gov/ to answer any FDIC questions. Joint accounts and IRA’s are typically insured for more.

By: Kerowyn

Kerowyn — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:20:50 +0000

My husband and I do all our banking with WaMu and we started to get nervous ourselves with the state of the bank. I can’t say whether it will fail or not, but we are leaving most of our money there. We’re under the FDIC insurance limits, it still has one of the better interest rates out there, and besides, after banking there for years and years now, it would be a hassle to switch.

However, we did open up another checking account (electric orange checking with ING) and are keeping a month’s expenses in that account so that we’ll have a relatively seamless transition if and when WaMu does go under. We’re losing a little bit of interest, but it’s worth it for the peace of mind.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:49:16 +0000

I didn’t know about the $200,000 for joint accounts. I wonder how long it takes to get your claim resolved if it should come to that. On the other hand, everyone pulling their money out now only contributes to the downfall, if I’m not mistaken.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 19:16:19 +0000

If it’s a joint account the FDIC will insure up to $200,000.

By: Eden

Eden — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:10:12 +0000

I wouldn’t bank with them (or any of the other failing financials in the news) because they are either incompetent or crooks, but you don’t have to worry about losing your money if you have already signed on.