THE BANKERS' HOUR

Like many other Americans these days, I have recently gotten my own first-hand contact with the meltdown in our banking sector. My main US account and mortgage loan is with Washington Mutual (WaMu), as of Thursday, the largest bank failure in US history. (I like to ally myself with superlative institutions! Arizona State is the largest university in the US.)

After months of trying to find some purchaser to buy it, the Feds marched in Thursday evening and announced that it was taking over the bank and that most of its assets had been bought by J. P. Morgan-Chase, a more stable institution.

I had been following the pessimistic news about WaMu's weakness for several months already and had already decided I needed to refinance my mortgage with another, more solvent bank ASAP. In fact, I had applied via LendingTree.com for bids from various lending institutions earlier in September. Not in enough time, apparently!

The good news - I guess - is that all the funds in my account are insured by the FDIC up to $100,000 (not a problem!) and that WaMu's mortgage portfolio - including my mortgage, presumably - has been bought up by JP Morgan. One agent with Wells Fargo I've been in touch with assured me my mortgage loan was still valid and that refinancing would not be a problem.

Why not just close your account a month ago when you got worried the bank might collapse, the logical question arises. Wish it were that easy. My mortagage rate was conditional on the monthly payments being drawn from a WaMu checking account, so I couldn't just close that and keep true to my contract.

Anyway, the real losers are all the poor saps that had WaMu STOCK and now are left with nothing - and perhaps JP Morgan down the road.

TEMPE UPDATE

I am still living in piles of unopened and half-opened boxes, and my living room has no furniture - even a table and chair to eat at! Last weekend, I flew back to California - Ontario airport this time - to get a second load from storage, this time at Ann and Cam's in Fallbrook. I hired a van this time - quite a bit more to take back! - but that also meant a lifeline of basic furniture, like desks and bookshelves, even a small guest bed that will allow me to play host to visitors to Phoenix. So, consider yourself invited! (Give me a few weeks to unpack first, however!)