A Sea Of Red

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/wachovia ... .html?.v=1

Hopefully now Wachovia customers will get better service and less ridiculous fees, though I've never done anything with Citibank so I wouldn't know what their customers can expect.

My experiences with Citibank have not been all that great, so I am a little nervous as a Wachovia customer. This whole situation in mind-boggling. I was watching Mad Money two weeks ago and Wachovia's CEO was talking about how confident he was with the status of his banks books... ha!

I am assuming they will change the name of the Wachovia arenas in Pennsylvania as well (Wachovia Center and Spectrum in Philadelphia and Wachovia Arena in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre). It will be the fourth bank to have their name on the arena: CoreStates=First Union=Wachovia=Citi

Well, maybe not since Wachovia is not selling off everything, they are staying in securities and assett mangament, but who knows if that is enough to afford naming rights.

The city of charlotte is basically in a mass panic between this and the fact they have no gas. Wachovia employees are basically just out in dowtown drinking right now. Wachovia stock has fallen to 75 cents a share last time I looked. The thing that sucks is that the executives are getting off with millions while the low to mid management are absorbing all the pain.

There will be massive layoffs there soon I would bet.

My dad worked in the banking business for 40 years, he got out because the stress was literally killing him. He said the business had gone from making the bank a responsible member of the community people could trust to a bloodthirsy business that required questionable accounting practices and meeting unreasonable quotas on obtaining new accounts. 10 years ago, he predicited this mess was coming at some point, saying that banks were building new branches just to add assets to the books and make the balance sheet look better than it was and that responsible lending practices were disappearing.

He was an old fashioned banker whose time had passed. 15 years after he is out, the people who took over for him and many of his friends that were subsequently fired, are the same ones running these companies into the ground.

I agree Realist, it's sad to see these executives walk away with millions when their employees lose their retirement.

WaMu, Wachovia, _____________

Any guesses on who will be next, and how creative our government will be in spinning the story?

Lots of small banks are really struggling with the downturn of Freddie and Fannie, and are either closing or merging with other small banks. You don’t hear about that on the evening news, but I face it everyday. There have already been more bank failures this year, than any year in recent memory with many more expected.

This feels eerily similar to the early stages of the Savings & Loan crisis that Old Hags may remember.

I have a friend working at Wachovia in Charlotte, told him to get his resume updated. Maybe he can go back to Bank of America if he has too.

Aren't they next?

I really dont understand how they can get away with this stuff. I realize that it doesn't make sense to but I think I might put my money in the ground. At least someone won't be able to steal it.

Sly Fox wrote:Aren't they next?

I believe BofA should be fine. They have been more conservative than other banks in the last 10-15 years with acquisitions and lending practices. Don't quote me on that though with everything going on.

I would encourage anyone looking for a reliable bank to go to Suntrust. Their stock has doubled in a year and they made the smart move two or three years ago by not buying these faulty loans that eveyone else did.

The worst thing anyone can do right now is pull their money out of the bank.

I agree. Just a suggestion for any future bankings needs. (Not a paid by Suntrust in anyway)

Sly Fox wrote:This feels eerily similar to the early stages of the Savings & Loan crisis that Old Hags may remember.

Yeah...who took over that bank in Midland after that was declared insolvent? (If anyone read the BOOK Friday Night Lights, you'll know what I'm talking about).

Regardless, I wish there was some way to go after those executive who are walking away with millions while everyone else there suffers.

The Dow is down close to 700 points today

This is starting to look really really bad. I'm glad I didn't have 30 years until retirement anyway. It's like doom and gloom amongst anyone over 50 here.

Retirement? Despite my best savings intentions this mess is killing any thoughts of me retiring anytime in the foreseeable future.

Realist wrote:

Sly Fox wrote:Aren't they next?

I believe BofA should be fine. They have been more conservative than other banks in the last 10-15 years with acquisitions and lending practices. Don't quote me on that though with everything going on.

Weren't they offering illegal aliens loans and credit cards, with no SS#?

Yes they did. They also allowed IA to get them with stolen numbers also.

Should have left off the lending practices then. I've read they were more conservative than everyone else a lot of places but I'm definitely no insider.

I'm ready to go home and watch this mess unfold on TV. No bailout b/c people are scared they won't be reelected, while the market burns. This is unreal.

i'm with you realist this is really hilarious...some of the quotes regarding losing their jobs is just amazing...

I'm glad they rejected the bailout, I was amazed to see some of the most conservative members of the House vote for this thing. And Pelosi's rant before the vote didn't help its chances, what an idiot.

RubberMallet wrote:i'm with you realist this is really hilarious...some of the quotes regarding losing their jobs is just amazing...

what are they saying?