Party like we have nothing to live for. 'cause with McCain/Palin we won't!

Btw, you don't have to take Golob's word for it. After Lehman Bros, WaMu has been tapped as the next to fail by experts everywhere.

But go ahead! Shove your head in the sand. Be my guest. Hope that you don't have more than $100,000 in your account, though.

There is NO reason to move your money.

What people should be focusing on is getting Democrats back in power in Washington to clean up the Republican "deregulatory mess" that led to the mortgage/credit crisis in the first place.

I'm also half tempted to switch our savings to Wamu CD's (they've got pretty good rates right now, naturally). But that doesn't help with my concerns about the accessibilty of funds if everthing goes tits up.

Most likely we're gonna put the savings back into ING and leave our checking and credit line with Wamu, but at the bare minimum to cover bills and such.

I have no idea if we're being smart, or if we're just part of the problem.

they can't even get the search function to work for the online banking to look for old credit and debits. (ever since i have the online banking with them it's been this way. I write them once every few months and they tell me they are aware of it and still working on it.)

so i think i'm off to open an account with BECU so all my money doesn;t get tied up in this current situation.

call it keeping my options open.

I lived through my bank's closure back during the S&L crises. My money survived, but the experience sucked. So my advice is avoid the extra hassle and open those new accounts now.

Putting up a "man-on-the-street" Slog post seems like a good way to serve puzzled depositors/readers as best you can.

1. When the hammer falls or JP Morgan absorbs them I will have to switch over 15 odd accounts that have direct ties to the checking.

2. I don't have any savings with them, only checking.

Two thumbs up.

This is way overdue. The longer people remain with their heads in the sand and their bank accounts (and 401Ks) in harms way, the easier it is for the pigmen to relieve them of their money.

Again, unless you like dealing with federal institutions, think about finding a small and stable place to keep your money. Your family will thank you.

I use ING Direct for all my US-dollar stuff now.

On the one hand you'll condemn a bunch of guys in NYC and Chicago for following the herd into Oil, Gold, Corn, CDOs (and this is their livlihood, their money in a very real way) but you absolve yourselves the same scrutiny when you take actions that could lead to the collapse of a bank.

Elswinger, I hope you know that your credit card debt won't disappear with WaMu. A bankruptcy trustee will be quite eager to collect all debts owed to the defaulter.

Yes, if you're under the $100K limit you'll get your money back eventually, but why go through the hassle? Panic now and beat the rush.

If WaMu goes tits up before the CDs mature, the FDIC might only reimburse you for the initial investment amount. I'm not positive about that, but that's what I've heard.

Certainly from a technical-legal perspective, that Deleware company is just as American as any other, subject to all the same rules as any other American company incorporated in Deleware.

You can't use a "where do the profits flow?" criterion, because they flow to shareholders all over the world.

Certainly, in a colloquial sense of where "did they start?", "where is their headquarters?", "what passport does their CEO hold?", ING is Dutch.

Don't rely on the FDIC - they have only $53 and a bailout of WaMu alone will require more than that.

It is possible they could sell some branches to raise money but they are down to days left to do so.

Protect yourself, as no one is looking out for your interests on Wall St. or Washington. They are trying to save themselves first.

The big question is whether Paulson consider WAMU to be on the list of companies he won't allow to fail. I think he was particularly loathe to help Lehman because they refused to take the appropriate medicine and turned down several sale offers over the past few months. Merrill-Lynch was very smart in selling out this weekend.

Either way, people who have savings/checking accounts at WAMU are going to see, at worst, an annoying few days where it's tough to get at your money (I'd recommend taking out a bit extra cash).

The ones who are really screwed are the shareholders, the employees, and if this crisis continues, all of us.