SFist: What's Going On Here, WaMu?

September 19, 2008

What's Going On Here, WaMu?

Photo by Jorge Parada

Sure, stocks surged today. But how long can that last? And with rumors of holds being placed on simple deposits are scaring some. Are you worried? Have you come across a drained ATM like the one above? Is all you money stuffed into your mattress?

By Brock Keeling in News | Link | Comments (20) | Recommend this! (4) |

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Comments (20)

[1] | 09/19/08 03:41PM

I don't know about WaMu or BofA, but I went to three Wells Fargo ATMs before finding one that would give me a measly forty bucks.
Creepy.
I'm wondering if I should go stock up on potable water and beans.

[2] | 09/19/08 03:51PM

yeah, I wasn't creeped out until I saw this.

[3] | 09/19/08 03:52PM

Jameth spreading rumors? Never!!

[4] | 09/19/08 03:52PM

Seriously, the sign should have read: FOR SALE

[5] | 09/19/08 03:56PM

Staged or someone having a nice giggle. If the ATM was out of money, the screen would be flashing a big OUT OF ORDER message.

[6] | 09/19/08 04:03PM

Not true, Dantsea.. it can still accept deposits and check balances.

[7] | 09/19/08 04:04PM

Chill. The banking system is sound. Don't you read the news? The government is on it, everything will be OK. Go back to watching American Idle or Douching with the Stars. Don't forget to buy a new house or car, now's a great time to buy things!

I wonder what kind of pizza the FDIC is bringing to the WaMu tower tonight?

[8] | 09/19/08 04:12PM

Yeah, and you young folks brace yourselves for increased taxes to pay for the cleanup of this Baby BOomer mess.

[9] | 09/19/08 04:15PM

I've had BofA ATMs be "currently unable to dispense cash" tons of times over the years.

[10] | 09/19/08 05:10PM

This is a straight up rip off by the banking industry--unsound banking practices devised to part customers with their money due to government regulators literally sleeping with the bankers. The proceeds are funneled off to "investors" and partnered lending institutions, and then when the house of cards collapses the government steals lends the population's tax dollars to replace the stolen funds back into the unregulated and corrupt system with little to no immediate change, in tandem with the stock values going down and draining investors money, in addition to failed institutions effectively stealing more money from their customers by declaring bankruptcy ensuring that folks only get what's insured through the FDIC, which is funded by tax dollars.

In other words, in addition to the $550 bn USD we've allowed the government to give away to their corporate cronies as *war* expenditures, nearly overnight (including Bear Stearns, Freddie, Fannie, AIG) we've given them another $140 bn USD. So far that's a total of $690 bn USD of private and taxpayer dollars, not including interest, which will bring the total to somewhere in the hood of $2.2 trillion dollars. And that's just US costs.

Essentially corporations, aka neo-government, has been allowed to drain a substantial percentage of the world's private funds and tax coffers with our permission. All the better to rule us with.

Is there anybody out there mad yet?

Or are lattes, ipods and Guitar Hero still enough to soothe you?

[11] | 09/19/08 05:12PM

i was able to get money out of the wamu atm at the potrero and 16th shopping center. huge line though.

[12] | 09/19/08 05:59PM

GET OUT!

Firefighters Credit Union here I come.....

[13] | 09/19/08 06:05PM

WaMu has been putting holds on deposits since the beginning of time because they're one of the worst all time banks ever. Nothing is really free. That's why I left. This isn't surprising.

[14] | 09/19/08 10:45PM

Okay, this is kind of creepy.
Only because I went to an ATM today -- a BOFA one, if you must know, and it too was drained.

Perhaps people are overreacting and attempting to withdraw everything in the accounts?

[15] | 09/19/08 11:34PM

yep, the first ATM I tried to use was out of dough tonight.

[16] | 09/20/08 12:22AM

i used an ATM in Sevilla, Spain last nite and got drained myself. $140 Euro = $211.48 USD. OUCH!!!

needless to say, after our honeymoon is over i wont have even two pennys to rub together so crash and burn WaMu, crash and burn. Wooo Hooo!!

[17] | 09/20/08 03:42AM

Of course everybody here has plenty of cash, food, and water on hand for emergencies, right? Right?

Just in case:

http://www.72hours.org/

[18] | 09/20/08 10:13AM

So how much money can each ATM hold anyway? It's got to be in the 6 figures, I would guess...

[19] | 09/20/08 11:13AM

Well, it IS Friday afternoon, and the weather is supposed to be somewhat gloomy, so maybe there is just a lot of "buying" of "recreational supplies". Heck, I bought a bottle of cheap cabernet myself on the way home.

And yeah, SFMan is absolutely right. My friends in Houston are still waiting for electricity.

[20] | 09/20/08 09:49PM

I went into a BofA to get rent money on Friday and the branch manager was actually out in the lobby ushering in people who were there to move their money over the their banks. A gentleman made a comment to the effect of, "I guess the WaMu stuff has been good for business," and the manager replied that in the last week he's pretty sure that his branch alone has received "hundreds of thousands" of dollars in new accounts and deposits.

So, go to BofA. They should have plenty of money from all the former WaMu customers.