[getsmart-l] Panic mongering in withdrawal line, A Countrywide bank customer muses about buying gold

[23skidoo]

Panic mongering in withdrawal line, A Countrywide bank customer muses about buying gold 


Film at 11:00
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Countrywide Bank Customers Fret Over Deposits 


By Alexandria Sage Reuters Friday, August 17, 2007 


http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1721531120070817 


GLENDALE, California -- Withdrawal slips in hand, customers lined 
up at Countrywide Bank branches on Friday to take back their money 
as parent Countrywide Financial Corp tried to assure investors and 
depositors that it and its bank were stable. 


Countrywide Bank issued a statement on Friday that liquidity issues 
affecting its parent did not affect federally insured deposits at 
Countrywide Bank. 


Countrywide Bank said it has more than $107 billion of assets and 
105 banking offices. 


On Thursday, Countrywide, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said 
it drew down an entire $11.5 billion bank credit line as a credit 
shortage limited access to short-term cash. 


By noon on Friday, more than 40 Countrywide customers had been 
served or were waiting in line at the branch in this Los Angeles 
suburb, waiting upward of an hour and a half to withdraw money from 
their accounts. 


"The bottom line is it's your money," said Yumi Oshima, a graphic 
designer who had come to move her more than $100,000 out of Countrywide 
certificates of deposit if the penalty was not too stiff. 


Oshima wondered how much worse the situation would become. She knew 
that her two CDs were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance 
Corporation (FDIC) for $100,000, but said she was still concerned. 


"Do I trust them?" she asked, referring to federal banking regulators. 
"They're not doing so well for the entire economy." 


Others like Tim Shinkle, 35, who works as a grip in the film business 
and has a money market account with Countrywide, expressed similar 
concerns and sentiments. 


"I don't trust the FDIC insurance. The Federal Reserve seems to me, 
at least, in a slightly shaky gray area," Shinkle said. "I know a 
little about what happened in the 1930s (market crash). It smells 
like it could be the same." 


Shinkle said he had been anticipating a meltdown in the credit 
markets given the rising number of mortgage defaults and foreclosures. 


"It just seemed like it had to happen -- that there would be some 
ugly mortgage crunch," he said. 


Shinkle said he still was not sure where he would put his money, 
but said he was thinking of buying gold. He expressed mixed feelings 
about even being at the Countrywide branch. 


"I really thought about panic mongering. I thought, 'Am I going to 
be the guy doing the run on the bank?' That didn't appeal to me. 
But dealing with the insurance afterward and possibly losing my 
money didn't appeal to me either," he said. 


Some customers were told that wire transfers would take at least 
two days to process, angering Albert Gasparyan, 49, who had been 
planning to withdraw his funds for an upcoming property purchase 
before Countrywide's mortgage business problems became known. 


"I'm really angry. It's going to mess up everything," said Gasparyan, 
who needs a fast transfer to close his deal. "I heard the news and 
came in because I'm afraid I'm going to lose my money." 


Across town at a branch in the wealthy suburb of Encino, retired 
teacher Joe Lardner said he was not concerned about his certificates 
of deposit because they are insured by the FDIC. 


An Encino branch employee said that 10 customers that he served 
were there not to withdraw funds, but to be reassured that their 
money was FDIC-insured. 


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