Is your bank ready for a run? Could it fail? Are you FDIC insured on your accounts? Are you certain?

Want to do a little test? For anyone who has $50,000 or more in a branch bank, go stop by tomorrow and ask to withdraw your entire balance - in cash, right there on the spot.

See what they say.

You may be surprised.

Now assume EVERY account holder in the area tried to do that tomorrow - perhaps after news that the bank might be one of the ones about to fail.

It wouldn't be pretty.

Here's a posting from an HP'er who did the test today:

Anonymous said...

I went to the bank today to withdraw about $10,000 in cash. The bank was so low on cash they could barely give me my 10k.

At that point I asked if I could withdraw my entire balance (around 50k) in cash. I just wanted to see if they could. Sure enough they could not. Evidently they've had many people all day long pulling their cash out of the bank.

Freaking scary.

A Special HousingPANIC message to Countrywide Bank depositors

Get

Your

Fu*king

Money

Out

Of

There

NOW!!!

Note - I'm short CFC and can't believe any sane person would allow Orange Mozilo to hold their wallet. I also can't believe the FDIC (taxpayers) insure this mess. They're desperate, they're in trouble, they made loans to liars, and they're Housing Enron.

Countrywide unit tries to lure public with savings rate

As it tries to rebound from the credit crunch that has rocked the home loan industry, Countrywide Financial Corp. said yesterday it was offering the highest interest rate on savings in the nation.

A minimum investment of $10,000 in a 12-month certificate of deposit at Countrywide Bank will earn 5.65 percent interest.

But even Countrywide is telling depositors that anything above the FDIC limit - they're on their own...

"It is important for Countrywide Bank's valued customers to know that the highly publicized issues related to the mortgage market do not impact the safety of FDIC-insured deposits at Countrywide Bank," said Tim Wennes, president of Countrywide Bank, in a statement Friday.