Wachovia has a major presence throughout Hampton Roads, and the agreement with Citigroup will affect deposits and loans with thousands of consumers.
Q. Is my money safe?
A. Yes. The Treasury Department and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said that all Wachovia depositors will be protected. For Wachovia customers, the action on Monday “will ensure seamless continuity of service from their bank and full protection for all of their deposits,” FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said in a statement. “There will be no interruption in services, and bank customers should expect business as usual.”
Q. Do I have to do anything differently if I’m a customer of Wachovia Securities?
A. No. “It’s business as usual,” said Christine Shaw, a Wachovia spokeswoman.
Q. Why did federal regulators push for a sale of Wachovia Bank?
A. Wachovia Bank did not fail, but tight credit conditions and the deterioration of its loan portfolio prompted mounting concern about its safety and soundness.
Q. When will the sale be completed?
A. Wachovia’s agreement with Citigroup still must be approved by Wachovia’s shareholders and by regulators. The transaction is expected to close before year’s end.
Q. What happens to Wachovia Corp.?
A. It will remain a publicly traded company and continue to own the brokerage subsidiary Wachovia Securities and Evergreen Asset Management.
Q. How will Wachovia’s shareholders come out in the transaction?
A. Most will see their holdings sharply reduced. They will receive about $1 of Citigroup common stock for each of their Wachovia shares. That’s down sharply from the $10 closing price for Wachovia’s shares on Friday.
Q. How does the quality of Citigroup’s consumer banking compare with Wachovia’s?
A. In its latest study of bank customer satisfaction, the marketing information service J.D. Power and Associates said that Wachovia had a 729 index in the mid-Atlantic region, a point ahead of the 728 for Citigroup’s Citibank subsidiary. Both fell below the average for the mid-Atlantic region of 730, according to the study, which was released in May. In the Southeast, Wachovia had an index of 747, which was slightly ahead of the 742 average for the region, J.D. Power said.
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what does this do to the new Wachovia
Wachovia Bank and highrise that is to be built in downtown?
re: Mccain got us into this mess
ches37 wrote:
For years Obama warned us about this mess and we should have followed his plan.
FOR YEARS?! With a whopping 143 days experience as a senator under his belt and an abysmal voting record, Mr. Obama has not warned us of anything "for years." And what plan "should we have followed?" I have yet to see anything substantial from his campaign except “CHANGE.”
As outlined on msnbc, Mccain alone, created this crisis.
Yeah, that's an un-biased source; probably the worst informed, poorly rated news network on the air today. I suggest you look at several of the links in this thread for some factual information rather than Chris Matthews' garbage.
No one likes taxes but now is the time to increase everything…
No, we need the Fair Tax, not an increase in taxes.
Local banks
If the lcoal banks are so strong why have many of them had stock offerings in the last 60 days? Gateway just dodged the bullet by being absorbed by Bank of Hampton Roads.
The Buyout of area Banks
When I look at the news and see another bank in trouble. This reminds me of the greed of man. Many time we are trying to make as large of profit as possible, we forget about people. Many small business are successful, because they serve the people and not a bottom line. The chicken has come home to roost.
This all started in 1999 under the Clinton administation
This weekend to the DEM's embarassment the New Your Times produced a article written 9/30/99 from thier archives that showed how President Clinton (DEM) directed Fanny Mae to loser thier leanding guidelines to allow more to purchase homes. Some times the facts are irrefutable.
Under a Republican President the Democrats repeatly voted down changes to have the lending guideline tightened.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260
Chicken little syndrome!
Has any one looked at the euro since this all has happened, our dollar has strenghtned againest the EURO for the first time in months. A barral of oil is estimated drop to the low 80's, Stock market is on the rebound. I'm really starting to wonder if we are not bailing out the upper 10% again.
Todays prime intrest rate forcast show the rate dropping from 5.0 to 4.75.. So I ask are we really going down the tubes. Maybe those wall street fat cats need to eat beans and rice or liquadate thier lear jet/20,000 sq foot homes if they are worried about making payrolls.
Get ahold of your Senator and tell them that thier re-election chances are in risk if they approve this bail out.
RE: not likely
What I would like to see is stopping the blame game and try and see what the "real" problem is and what is realistic in solving it, but so many, and on here also, aren't taking a look at the issue, just throwing out comments that don't make a lot of sense and show little knowledge of what's going on.
I'm sorry but McCain did not anticipate the housing crisis...
See him say it himself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1P1Qc-RrJ8
Not likely
This issue is very complex, requires a great deal of discussion, research and thought before it advances in either direction...
Smart comment but that kind of rationality is not likely the month before a major election.
you can blame anyone you like but
This issue is very complex, requires a great deal of discussion, research and thought before it advances in either direction. What I would like to see is stopping the blame game and try and see what the "real" problem is and what is realistic in solving it, but so many, and on here also, aren't taking a look at the issue, just throwing out comments that don't make a lot of sense and show little knowledge of what's going on.
oh give me a break!! It was McCain on the floor of the senate 6
years ago, warning of the problems with Freddie/Fannie & pleading for something to stop the obvious from happening. This fiasco was set in motion long before. As long as the banks remain greedy & know that the gov't has a plan to cover all their bad risk, they'll continue to do it. You think $700B is the REAL cost? Think about all the special interest"back room" agreements and "gentleman's" (I use the term Loosely) handshakes & the payoffs to the lobbyists. $700B is just the STARTING point! Why not let those who can buy the bad debt, do so & infuse the economy with REAL money? Restrict ALL lending. If it takes a credit score of 720 to get a loan, then maybe thats what it SHOULD be. Promising everyone in the country that it is their RIGHT to own a house & then opening the door for defaults is just plain stupid. Let those who took the risk FAIL & keep the hands of the fools in DC the heck out of it!! Those of use wh
The solution isnt higher taxes...
Its a form of isolationism.......Weve got to stop supporting all these other countries and our natl debt would rapidly decrease...
No?
No answer to the question guys? Uh oh...the teeth are out when they are in the corner.
credit
We keep being told that if we do nothing, credit will not be available. They are correct! It will not be available to the people who should have NEVER been allowed to borrow in the first place.The sky will not fall. Look at the Stock Market today, it's fine ! It will get a little worse before it gets better, but the better will be the best we have ever seen. A stronger economy WILL be born.
Mccain got us into this mess
For years Obama warned us about this mess and we should have followed his plan. As outlined on msnbc, Mccain alone, created this crisis. No one likes taxes but now is the time to increase everything from grocery tax, income tax to health care tax to pay our way out of this mess.
Not for everybody
I just want to make sure we will not be bailing out the homeowners who took adjustable rate or interest only loans. Read the fine print I don't want to pay to bail out these unresponsible people. I have wachovia and am not worried one bit. Just don't make us sensible taxpayers pay to bail out the irresponsible home owners.
Sorry cboath, check again...
The vast majority of subprime lending was done by "investment banks". Look at the banks that are still OK: Citiband, US Bank, etc. These are the ones that abided by "normal" mortgage lending rules & didn't get stupid. They are still doing relatively good & those that went off the deep end (greed) are the ones asking for a bailout. The CRA was partially to blame & so is ACORN (acorn.org) for practically forcing investment banks to make it a breeze for low income folks to get loans for houses they couldn't afford to pay back. Interest only loan? All that boils down to is renting @ higher prices & no equity so you never "own" the house!!! It will be painful, but the only way to fix this mess is not use a gov't plan to fix a problem that the gov't caused in the first place. Let the businesses fail. If they go bankrupt at least they will still be around but the creditors will own them. Tough call for individuals but hey I'm not gonna bailout an idiot wanted a 350K house on 35K income. Suck it up, buttercup!
And...
To the CRA comments that Bush didn't do anything...
Not a Bush lover at this time, however, in 2003/2004 The Republicans tried to put in legislation to fix the Fanny/Freddie issues that have caused the mess we are in.
The Democrats blocked the legislation. Said nothing was wrong with them and that they were doing a wonderful job...
Well... I know see what they consider wonderful work.
So to say they did not try to do anything is false. However, I wonder why if these problems were there and seen that the alarm bell wasn't louder to the media that was ignoring this several years ago...
Only an idiot...
Would ask for massive tax incrases to fix a problem...
Yes. Install Barack "I'm a phone call away call me" Obama. He's really shown leadership that installs confidence in me. Oh wait! I didn't drink the Kool-Aid!
NOT CRIA
Sorry folks, the CRIA had nothing to do with this situation. It only applied to banks. Most of the sub-prime mortgages out there were written by mortgage brokers. And CRIA had nothing to do with these derivatives.
um.........
major tax increases and layoffs don't go too well together.
Raising Taxes is the only solution
There are only two possibiities to fix this mess..across the board tax increase..not a bunch of small bites but one major increase so we can fix the problems for now and secondly put Obama in charge. Besides increasing taxes on all individuals, business's should face a major tax increase to off-set the current problems. If that means lay off's than its time to be patriotic and do the right thing anyway!
what to do what to do
put money in bank for safe keeping =bank sold money not safe
keep money at home and risk a robber= Think Ill take my risk with the robber
I pulled my money from wachovia YESTERDAY
Raines and Obama = another lie from McCain.
Ira, you've obviously got an Internet connection. Maybe you should do a search before taking a McCain ad and spreading the lies in it verbatim. I'm sure you're aware that his ads are "cooked".
For everyone out there who wonders if there is a connection between Obama and Raines, there isn't and it's been fact-checked over and over!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/09/obamas_fannie_mae_connection.html
What is fact though is that Rick Davis, McCain's campaign manager’s firm has taken over 2-million dollars ($30k/mth for five years) in pay from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Worse, his firm was still receiving $15k payments this year as the bailout was underway.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jnhZ5ehM97b5g022vv1cHSheTh1gD93F6BO00
C'mon people...don't take anything from McCain or Obama verbatim, do the research, it’s too important not to.
Phil Gramm was President??
Gee, I thought he was only one out of one hundred Senators.
Did you mean to say that a majority of both houses of Congress passed a bill which was signed by President Clinton, which allowed for derivatives?
No doubt he also went out and forced people at gunpoint to buy them.
The fiend!
Phil Gramm's deregulation caused the crash
Phil Gramm's deregulation of derivatives caused the crash, and Warren Buffett predicted it a year and a half ago. Check out this link...
http://seekingalpha.com/article/34606-buffett-on-derivatives-a-fool-s-game
DUH!
Submitted by joannes43208 on Tue, 09/30/2008 at 5:49 am.
...starting with a fixed mortgage rate for people who are about to lose their homes to an out-of-control ARM.
That seems like the first logical solution to me also. Government could pay all closing and cost associated with that with that, a fraction of that 700 billon.
to add to that
They took higher risks to remain more competitive in the market. They would never have taken these chances w/o the thoguht entering their mind that the goverment guaranteed many of their funds.
"A few facts can go a long ways!" THANKS GERTZ
So if I am wrong you have to answer 3 questions:
1) Who is asking for the money?
2) Who is being asked to pay it?
3) Who would the real bank be?
Laws of each state
As it is Citibank's policy to honor the laws of each state in which the respective branch is located, I presume they while be consistent in this instance. Specifically, will handguns continue to be allowed to be carried by legally authorized citizens while on your property?
High Risk Loans Isn't The Problem - GREED Is!
Offering high risk loans to people isn't what caused this problem. Greed on the part of the men who owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack did. They weren't content to just get interest on regular homes that fit people's budgets well. No, they wanted more profit so they started offering people houses they could BARELY afford.
To compound that problem they created these ARM mortgages which is like playing Russian Roulette in my opinion. Why would ANYONE want a mortgage that has no certainty attached to it? You get better odds at the casino. If we had stayed with fixed mortgages and let people start with normal-sized properties instead of trying to drain people of every penny they had, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae wouldn't be in this position. I applaud the Congress and Senate for not allowing this pork bill to go through. Wall Street needs to be made responsible for their greed-based actions and figure out how to fix this themselves...starting with a fixed mortgage rate for people who are about to lose their homes to an out-of-control ARM.