So.... should I withdraw my money from the bank?

[thecrow]

I have a small nest egg saved.... I'm afraid of losing it.
I feel like this is a question some of us have on our minds as we watch the financial market dissolve.
Maybe someone with more financial knowledge than I can answer?

[MissB]

1. Is it FDIC insured? Is it less than the FDIC limits?

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Just don't have more than $100,000 in one bank

you should be fine.

[MeDeMax]

8. correction => in one account

deposits are insured upto 100,000 per account.


-

[high density]

12. No, it's per bank.

http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/insuringdeposits/index.html

"The basic insurance amount is $100,000 per depositor per insured bank. Certain retirement accounts, such as Individual Retirement Accounts, are insured up to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank."

[TahitiNut]

20. Wrong! DON'T spread misinformation. It's all accounts a person has at all branches of a single bank

There are technical exceptions but multiple accounts or multiple branches of the same bank ALL come under the same individual limit.

[Old and In the Way]

3. Why? What's the dollar gonna be woth in your pocket?

It don't matter....what matters is how we crawl out of this mess.

[rucky]

4. Well, if we all did it...

the economic collapse would be a self-fulfilling prophecy. You could go to bank with its own stable depository base. Check it out here: ttp://www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/ss_home.asp

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. It depends on a lot of things. Right now? Probably not. However...

1. If you have less than $100,000 in the bank, you're probably OK for now. Unless...

2. Washington Mutual fails. A Washington Mutual failure would use up practically ALL of the FDIC's reserves and Congress would then have to step in and authorize more of our money for the FDIC. Which they would more than likely do, it's just a question of how long it would take.

3. Research is your friend. Go to this website: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/ss_home.asp. You can search for your bank by name or by state. If your bank has less than a three star rating, I would consider moving it to a higher rated bank.

Good luck.

[Robbien]

9. Exactly. All good points

And make sure you keep your eyes open and have one on your money at all times. These days this government of ours is grabbing up everything that is not tied down and shoveling it to the banks/investment firms.

[succubus.blues]

22. oh man

that link really depressed me. We have a credit union and apparently it sucks.

[progressivebydesign]

6. Banks that are FDIC are insured for 100k per customer.

What caused much of the sorrow of the Depression was people panicking and making runs on their bank. I won't advise people to do one thing over another, but your best bet is to educate yourself on your bank, and the situation. Most of these firms are being bought up or taken over, but none have "failed" in that sense. Even IndyMac was taken over and no one lost $$$.

[cui bono]

10. I just took all my savings out of WaMu today. I heard on Thom Hartmann

this morning that what also makes things fail in the market - and this might have nothing to do with banks necessarily, my eyes tend to glaze over with this sort of stuff - is that people with liquid assets "bet" on whether or not a company is going to fail, so then shareholders see this and fulfill the prophecy by selling off their shares. Same sort of thing.

I've had an uneasy feeling since late last week about my money, and I work job to job and rely on my savings and there's no way I was going to leave it there, not knowing how long it would take to access it if it did come down to making an FDIC claim. I don't want to gamble with my money. If I did I would play the stock market or drive to Vegas.

[TheDebbieDee]

7. But even if your account is covered by FDIC,

won't it still take months, or at least several weeks, to get your money if your bank goes belly up?

I literally live paycheck to paycheck so I would still be skittish about any rumors that my bank might go belly up.

[kath]

11. Exactly - you'll supposedly get your money *eventually*, but it will take a while.

[high density]

14. If by "take a while" you mean a weekend

Then yes, it will take "a while."

[lonestarnot]

13. Just another exercise of their control over your money! Ain't it just swell!

[Selatius]

16. If you want to stay liquid, you probably should have some cash on hand.

The FDIC will step in at that point, but during the transition period, your money could be stuck at the bank until the FDIC verifies your account. It could take anywhere from several days to several weeks before they've gone through the bank's account ledger to determine how much money each account gets. Large deposit-type institutions can have upwards of several hundred thousand to several million deposit accounts.

If you want to withdraw cash, withdraw just enough to cover upcoming bills and other necessities. If you had exactly 100,000 in a bank that is about to declare bankruptcy on monday, there's no need to withdraw all of the amount now, just enough to hold you over until your account is freed again.

[high density]

15. No.

[roamer65]

17. As long as its FDIC insured and you are under the 100k limit...

No.

[Chemical Bill]

18. Take money out of big banks.

I have mine in a local credit union. This has less to do with the current upsets, and more to do with the fact that large financial institutions are using our money to screw us. For example, a few years ago Citibank bought the largest drug money launderer in Mexico, Banamex.

http://forests.org/archive/samerica/cibemexi.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/jun/25/mondaymediasection11

http://www.narconews.com/fraud1994.html

Bill

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. He who panics first, panics best.

I'm keeping a couple months cash on hand.

[thecrow]

21. Thank you all for the replies and links

:)

[lame54]

23. I thought we went to the Lounge for financial advice

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

24. Well, you are on your own in this country. So, you do what makes you feel secure.

I just do not know what else to say.

I wondered about what I would do IF I have assets and how I could possibly protect them.
I figured investment in land and a "green" business would be good.

But, those are my fantasies.

[earth mom]

25. Whatever you do don't take the money out and stash it in a safe deposit box.

I read here on DU a few years ago that rules are in place to keep people from accessing safe deposit boxes during a crisis. :yoiks: