Reuters:
Washington Mutual Inc, the failed U.S. savings and loan, has sued the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp for well over $13 billion in connection with the loss of its banking operations, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the thrift's former parent accused the FDIC of having on January 23 made a "cryptic disallowance" of its claims, prompting the lawsuit.
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WAMU is a failure...
A disgusting example of whatever it is they were supposed to represent.
A lot of commenters and former WaMu shareholders seem to be very good at adding up the assets that WaMu held. You think that someone should have paid the value of the asssets to acquire the company.
Whats about the liabilities? There are two sides to a balance sheet. What was WaMu's net worth?
If you have a $300,000 house with a $400,000 mortgage and you get someone to buy your house and take over the mortgage, how much money do you expect to clear?
Chase.
WAMU is a failed savings in loan. It failed. It was built on bullsh*t. They aren't going to sue ANYBODY. They are a failure. The FDIC is a deposit insurance trust. Why the hell would a failure try and SUE someone that is going to make the innocent depositors whole? The FDIC is funded by all the banks through insurance premiums.
The only reasone a FAILURE like WAMU is trying to sue now is because it smells bailout money if the FDIC needs and infusion of Fed cash if it can't cover losses.
ENOUGH ALREADY.
WAMIU was probably never worth 13 billion to begin with.
People like you is the problem with America. You fail to evaluate before coming to a conclusion. From your response, its clear you haven't read the court filing.
1. At the time of seizure they had $300B in deposits.
2. WAMU had 2200 Branches.
3. WAMU paid $6.5B for Providian.
4. The holding company at the time of seizure had $4.5B in CASH in the WAMU Bank.
5. WAMU Bank raised about $6B from TPG (Texas Pacific Group) in 2008.
The issue here is not rocket science, why would you sell the biggest savings and loans in the US to JP Morgan for $1.9B?.
The issue here is simple. You don't sell the biggest savings and loans for $1.9B only. WAMU had about $300B in deposits and 2 credit card businesses.
They just want to get a good value for the bank and credit card companies. WAMU paid $6.5B for Providian and they have 2200 branches. Everyone with any sense of valuation can tell that they tried to screw them over and they had to go into bankruptcy to protect the plundering of their other assets.
FDIC should resolve this issue quietly because if they open themselves up to a lawsuit and discovery, JPMorgan will have to tell everyone how they got such a sweet deal.
My first bank account was at National Bank of Commerce. NB of C became Rainier Bank, which was bought up by Security Pacific of California, which was then bought up by the bank I heard for years never treated their customers very well. SeaFirst got into some trouble, and another California bank assumed their assets and liabilities. Bank of America moved to North Carolina, which definitely got my attention. My Credit Union is showing no signs of problems yet, and if it does where do I go? Consumer confidence will be a great thing if it ever happens, but I don't recall feeling it during the thirty-some-odd years I've been part of retail banking. Please let it come while I've got some teeth left in my head and a few marbles rolling around up there too. Maybe the government CAN'T bring sanity to all of this, but we'll never know until they try.
If, according to the article, WAMU failed due to a run on the bank in which depositors withdrew $16.7 Billion over a ten day period - why didn't the Federal Reserve back them up? That is exactly why the Federal Reserve is in place. To provide member banks with liquidity in the event of a run. I'm sure there were other problems, but a $16.7 Billion hit on the balance sheet in ten days - that a pretty unusual situation. Oh well?
WaMu (I always thought that sounded like a whoopee cushion) can go pound sand. They encouraged people to use their homes as ATMs just to make a lot of money fast. Now people are living in houses that aren’t worth nearly as much as they owe, and losing them. Making matters worse, WaMu used fraudulent assessments and forced loan offers to accept just about any paper. I know several people who borrowed more than they should have and are now paying the price. Of course they should have been more prudent, but so should have the bank.
Nationalize Washington Mutual and shut up these greedy slimes. This financial crime syndicate member is crying that they did not get a piece of the Nanny State socialism handouts as they would have liked. Conceivership is the answer.
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Hey, I am a bone fide liberal...
It's clear you don't understand the issues or appreciate the number of small, private investors and retirement funds wiped out by Sheila Bair's gifting of Wamu to JPM for a mere 1.9BB. This suit seeks genuine justice for everyone burned by the blatant theft of Wamu. The FDIC (and JPM) should be forced to pay dearly for the corrupt acts which facilitated the financial ruin of tens of thousands of little guys like myself. We all seek justice and that is what this law suit is about.
$13 billion? That is huge! What the hell?! If this is a serious lawsuit, the FDIC can't handle that. This needs to be banner.
They must be grooving on the populist rage, huh?
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Reuters | 03/21/09