Comments on: WaMu’s Memorandum of Understanding

By: FredFan

FredFan — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:00:49 +0000

As of this Wednesday, there were several headhunters trying to recruit over 25 consultants to continue a bank secrecy act look-back that the bank had stopped in April when it first realized that it could either continue to open its doors, or pay hundreds of thousands of dollars each week for consultants. It is amazing that the OTS had them restarting this crazy exercise in the midst of their liquidity crunch. It’s amazing how stupid these regulators really are.

By: El Cheapo

El Cheapo — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:00:01 +0000

FYI… just moved over 40K to HSBC w/in the past few weeks.

By: El Cheapo

El Cheapo — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:58:49 +0000

http://www.cnbc.com//id/26641953?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext%7C&par=yahoo

At the same time, the company faces challenges ahead as interest rates will reset for prime adjustable-rate mortgages in 2010 and 2011, presenting what some analysts feel is the next wave of trouble for banks after getting hit by subprime defaults over the past two years.

“Washington Mutual has a ton of that toxic stuff. They reported earlier in the year, in April, that option ARMs account for 50 percent of prime loans in its bank portfolio,” said Christopher Mayer, analyst and managing editor for the Capital and Crisis newsletter. “These things are just going to be a complete disaster.”

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:30:56 +0000

I think you’re a bit too sanguine about this, Jim. WaMu is several times bigger than IndyMac. If WaMu goes the FDIC will be in the hole and have to borrow money from Treasury. Now, I’m sure that the Treasury will give FDIC the money, but there may be a bigger lag-time before you can access your money as compared to the IndyMac case. And, you wouldn’t get that 5% interest on that CD.

Maybe if they were offering 9% I might think about it, but @5% it’s not worth the hassle. Besides, why do I want to enable WaMu to continue to exist? They made some of the riskiest loans in the industy (Pay Option ARMs) they deserve to go down and likely will.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:41:13 +0000

WaMu should be fine, there are other banks in far worse shape still ticking and ticking strong, it’s a good time to take advantage of the 5% rate.

By: EN

EN — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:33:43 +0000

Hmm…dicey business. I just opened a WaMu checking/savings for the CDs but I guess it won’t be lasting all too long. Oh well, like you said, nothing to worry about if you’re insured.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:34:42 +0000

I bought WaMu stock in 2006 because of its great divident yield. I am relieved to report that I sold it earlier this year.

Although no doubt true in this case, offering a higher yield on deposits is not always a sign of capital or liquidity problems.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:55:55 +0000

I hope WaMu does fail. Maybe they will finally stop sending me 50 pieces of junk mail every week. Or maybe that’s why they are going to fail, because they waste so much money printing off all their stupid junk and sending it to millions of people.