RisingSun96815 said:The article claims "Deposit Insurer May See Its War Chest Put to Test As Worries Surround Banks," and "it only holds $53 billion of assets against the $4 trillion-plus of bank deposits it insures." That's only 1.3%. That's enough to make me concerned.

Rest easy. You're ignoring the fact that the US government stands behind the FDIC, guaranteeing all of the FDIC's obligations to insured depositors. If the FDIC somehow ran out of money, the US Treasury would send them some more.

tuphat said:.......Also: I wouldn't necessarily call the people in line "idiots," although I think the majority of them are ill-informed. I would also be willing to bet that at least half of those in line will find that their deposits are actually within the insurance limits.

Everything those people need to know has been publically made available via newspaper articles, TV and radio news programs, online press releases, etc...

Even their online banking function was back online by Monday morning. Those people were able to use an ATM, log into the website, use the telephone banking, or even call the 800# to see where their money was.

At a non-Indymac bank, they could have deposited a check or initiated an ACH pull. There are so many options available to them that don't involve taking the day off of work to stand in line for many hours to have a teller tell them that their money is still there (or that they will have to wait many, many months to find out if they will see any of the second half of their uninsured deposits)

Additionally, I'd be willing to bet that with a line like that, cash withdrawals were severely limited as banks don't stock unlimited cash in their vaults. Cash withdrawals were probably limited to something like $1000 to $2000 per person.

gatzdon said:tuphat said:.......Also: I wouldn't necessarily call the people in line "idiots," although I think the majority of them are ill-informed. I would also be willing to bet that at least half of those in line will find that their deposits are actually within the insurance limits.Everything those people need to know has been publically made available via newspaper articles, TV and radio news programs, online press releases, etc...

Even their online banking function was back online by Monday morning. Those people were able to use an ATM, log into the website, use the telephone banking, or even call the 800# to see where their money was.

At a non-Indymac bank, they could have deposited a check or initiated an ACH pull. There are so many options available to them that don't involve taking the day off of work to stand in line for many hours to have a teller tell them that their money is still there (or that they will have to wait many, many months to find out if they will see any of the second half of their uninsured deposits)Indeed, there was a CNN television story where a man had over $200,000 in IndyMac; he showed up at a branch at 4am on Monday morning to try to get it all out. He got 50% of the post $100,000. How could someone with so much money be so irresponsible? There was talk (right here at FatWallet) of IndyMac's troubles several weeks in advance. How could someone not be aware of FDIC limits? There are bank ratings available on the Net. Multiple banks, joint accounts, money market funds, the principle of diversification--how could people allow this to happen to them? More importantly, how the hell did such people end up with more money than I have?

tuphat said:
Also: I wouldn't necessarily call the people in line "idiots," although I think the majority of them are ill-informed.
Same thing. At this day and age where information is available in every form 24x7, if somebody claims to be "ill-informed" on such simple money matters, he is a idiot. I have more sympathy for these people than the bozos in Cleveland who complained about heat waiting in line for IPhones. Still, most of the bank drama suffering is self induced.

My mortgage is serviced by IndyMac, and they usually do an auto-debit for the payment on the first of the month. Can I expect this will still happen as usual? I have a statement from them saying as such, but with the craziness, I'm just not confident that will all work out that way.

Of course, collecting money should probably be their #1 priority at this point!

moxjake said:My mortgage is serviced by IndyMac, and they usually do an auto-debit for the payment on the first of the month. Can I expect this will still happen as usual? I have a statement from them saying as such, but with the craziness, I'm just not confident that will all work out that way.It will probably be just fine, but I would double check that the auto-debit actually happens.

Morty said:For people who have been through this, do they actually give out cash in $100s or something to these people in line?

I assume it comes via check, but are these people really going to accept a check from Indymac? Or is the check paid by the FDIC? Can they demand cash?

You can demand cash but it doesn't mean they have to give it to you. IndyMac's normal cash withdraw is only $2500 (more if they have enough on hand or if they know you) as they do not handle as much cash as other retail banks.

This article was in the LA Times today. It seems that depositors who were INSURED for over $100,000 through trust accounts, etc. are having trouble getting thier money out. This confirms whitlephant's post yesterday. I agree with him that it's not worth it to have more than $100,000 per bank because who knows how long it's going to take to fight the FDIC to prove what you're insured for and to finally get paid by them.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-indymac16-2008jul16,0,4757797,full.story

Do you really trust the FDIC?

DPG said:Do you really trust the FDIC?

Seeing as it has a fairly good track record of doing what it is supposed to do, as well as bailing out the morons who don't do what they are supposed to do, I have to answer with another question:

Why do you not trust the FDIC?