Washington Mutual Begins Efforts to Sell Itself

[Maven]

Source: NYT

Washington Mutual, the struggling savings and loan, has been working on several efforts to save itself, including a potential sale, people briefed on the matter said Wednesday.

The unsurprising announcement comes as the bank, which has suffered badly from losses on mortgages it had made, continues to stumble. 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.

...

While the bank has a strong deposit base, the uncertainty of the markets and the increasingly poor housing market have increased concerns about Washington Mutual’s outlook. The bank plunged into the option adjustable rate mortgage business.

Read more: http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/washington-mutual-begins-auction-to-sell-itself/

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Anyone wanna buy a bank? It's a FIRE SALE

[maxsolomon]

1. someone please buy WaMu

i don't want to play with the FDIC.

[Renew Deal]

14. Save yourself.

[Demobrat]

20. Beat the rush. Pull out now.

There are healthy banks and it's easy to open accounts online. Sure it's a bit of a hassle, but it beats waiting for a check from the FDIC.

[customerserviceguy]

21. Glad I pulled my account out of there six months ago

but I went to a credit union, and Key Bank. I use the latter for my day-to-day banking, and the CU for my meager backup savings. Anybody hear how financially sound (or unsound) Key might be?

[slewfoot]

2. No one wants that POS

They're history.

[PassingFair]

3. I think I SAW Wamu today!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. Glad they no longer carry my mortgage.

Looks like the puppies in this ad have turned into hungry wolves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAHj99_l_-E

[mikelgb]

5. did it try showing leg?

[Shiver]

6. Why don't they hit up that pen of old bankers they have?

They could probably help...

[Roland99]

7. If there's a run or WaMu fails, FDIC is tapped out!

:scared: :scared:
:scared: :scared:

[amandabeech]

19. Don't worry. The FDIC has a large credit line at Treasury,

but it is not as large as AIG's!

Also, FDIC will undoubtedly raise its insurance rates on surviving financial institutions.

Everyone will get $100,000. The question is how many Euros or Yen that $100,000 will buy.

[jmowreader]

8. Yeah, I'll buy it. But I have a few preconditions...

First, quit calling the shit "WaMu." You're supposed to be a serious financial institution. ACT like one, dammit! Call yourself "Washington Mutual."

Second, get rid of your current slogan. "Whoo Hoo?" Give Me A Fucking Break. That's a slogan for a really hip teen girls' clothing store, not a serious financial institution. The original slogan was "The Friend of the Family." Go back to it. Now.

And third, find SOME way to sell off all the horseshit like brokerages, subprime, instant-approval credit...

If they do all that, and focus on their strong retail-banking core, they should be fine.

[Trillo]

16. I'm not certain I understand the need for a "retail-banking core"

as that implies a wholesale-banking core. Its fine with me if the U.S. government simply creates U.S. Treasury accounts for citizens so all the corporations can send their electronic deposits and citizens can withdraw or use their money and or e-money fee-free.

If the currency is, in fact, legal tender, then their should be no fees for the use of it, or for the accounts that it's deposited into, with the sole exception of overdrawing.

That was one of the strong points of Washington Mutual, their free accounts for people. It seems like a good thing given that banks can create money out of thin air by loans, BUT so many other banks just want to nickel and dime "small" or "little people" with "small accounts" by charging fees simply to have a bank account in addition to their currency creation and interest charges on that debt for their profitability. These types of banks, and they seem almost ubiquitous, are essentially taxing the small account holders for the right to cash e- and money and other deposits and withdrawals, essentially privately taxing the use of money, while they have the legal right to create money out of thin air, and a small subset of these bankers give wealthy folks free accounts if they have a minimal amount in the account.

If we're going to electronic money, which it seems we are, then there's a rather deep question regarding how to receive money earned, and send that money to others in exchange for the product, service, or debt, without being charged for the game of using money.

Gee, if you're rich you can get a free bank account, why can't poor folks? If the issue is simply these folks don't have enough money, then perhaps another system should be devised, for them, in lieu of money, or the Government should say there's a "General Welfare" issue here in the nearly required use of bank accounts, and that charging to have an account is tantamount to a tax issued by a private entity, and given the freebies granted to the wealthier at some banks, should probably be an illegal practice.

[Mrs. Overall]

9. My house mortgage is with Washington Mutual, so if they go under what does that mean

in terms of my mortgage?
I'm concerned.

[bemildred]

11. Not much.

The "income stream" that your mortgage represents will be sold to someone and you will keep paying it. The trust deed that represents your property will still be yours if you pay it off. The terms of your mortgage will stay the same. The main concern is that your new loan servicing agent might be defective in some way.

[Mrs. Overall]

12. Thanks for the info. Sounds like there won't be a huge change.

[bemildred]

10. Hey baby, you want a good time? nt

[truthisfreedom]

13. Me loan you long time!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. They expanded too fast

For years, they were just a Pacific Northwest Bank, but after I moved here in 2003, I started getting something like 3 credit card applications from them a week.

I'm sure there were plenty of people who were even less financial savvy than me who took them up on their too-easy credit.

WaMu thought it had a good thing going in creating dumb debt slaves, but the joke's on them.

[Solly Mack]

17. 2 dollars....3 if I can see the vault

[Canuckistanian]

22. And throw in that office complex

And I'll give you cash on the barrel *waves some bills in their face*

[bluesmail]

18. It's amazing what a mere 20 decades of "They'll

regulate themselves" has done. It's ruination.

[Ediacara]

23. I almost moved from Wells Fargo to WaMu

I'm glad I never got around to it..... (although Wells is supposedly being courted to buy WaMu, so had I switched, I may have been back at Wells anyway)