Sunday, December 21, 2008

Letter to Sheila C. Bair

Recent letter sent to Sheila Bair. We all need to contribute to this blog and share our stories.

December 15, 2008

Ms. Sheila C. Bair
Chairman of the FDIC
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
550 17th St. NW MB-6028
Washington, DC 20429

Dear Ms. Sheila Bair:

I am one of the many depositors that were fraudulently induced to exceed FDIC deposit insurance limits at failed Indymac Bank. I had two CD’s with the bank and I was assured that my accounts were properly insured by representatives at Indymac. Per the advice of Indymac Bank one account was held as an individual insured by the FDIC for 100k and the other account was held as a trust account with two beneficiaries (ITF’s) and insured by the FDIC for 200k. I have been informed by the FDIC that one of my beneficiaries on my account is not “qualified” and I have uninsured losses that exceeds $105,000.00.

On Friday August 8, 2008 I spoke with a Mr. Michael D. Geske at the FDIC he went over my accounts and made a deposit insurance determination that I had a grand total of deposit insurance of $300,000.00 and the total of uninsured funds of $5,798.17. Mr. Geske also stated that I would receive a corrected receivership certificate in the mail and the balance of my insured funds. Copy of the email sent by Mr. Geske at the FDIC confirming the conversation is attached. As of this date I have received neither a corrected receivership certificate nor the balance of my insured funds.

I have contacted numerous agencies including the Office of the Ombudsman at the FDIC and my local Congressman’s Office and have not had a satisfactory resolution to this matter. I am currently working with Senator Bill Nelson and Senator Mel Martinez in my state to help resolve this matter. I am writing to request formal assistance from Ms. Sheila C. Bair, Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

I am requesting that the FDIC insure my account balances for the $300,000.00 that I was assured by Indymac Bank as well as by Mr. Michael D. Geske at the FDIC. Effective September 26, 2008 the FDIC modified the rules for revocable trust accounts regarding the concept of “qualifying” beneficiaries and will insure virtually any beneficiary listed on an account. Effective October 3, 2008 with the passage of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, insurance limits were increased to $250,000.00 in an attempt to instill public confidence in the banking system.

The Federal government and lawmakers have acknowledged the fact that Indymac Bank was one of the first banks to fail due to our current economic crisis. I firmly believe based on the size and scope of such a large publicized bank failure such as Indymac Bank that lawmakers should have made these changes retroactive to when this crisis initially began. I hope that lawmakers can go back and correct this situation and do what is right for the American people who have lost so much at Indymac Bank.

I would greatly appreciate your assistance in regards to this matter. If you need any additional information or I can be of any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me at the address above or call me at (Deleted) or (Deleted)

5 comments:

  1. I had 5 IndyMac accounts and lost 95,000 that has not yet been repaid. I'm a single 56 year old woman and that was part of my life savings that I worked my fingers to the bone to save up.

    My story is slightly different. I had 2 qualified beneficiaries, both of my kids and luckily had my accounts set up as POD.

    However the bank told me I was insured to 300,000. 100,000 for each of us. But they were wrong. In my case the coverage is only 200K.

    Since then I have opened up accounts at Citi Bank and Wells Fargo and at BOTH banks they also told me one person with 2 beneficiaries is covered for 300K.

    I had to call in managers to ask what they believed the insurance rules in a case like this to be - they ALL said 300K and ASSURED me they had studied and had had company wide meetings.

    So the banks are ALL giving out bad advice about FDIC coverage. I had to email both banks the page on the FDIC site written SPECIFICALLY TO BANK EMPLOYEES that says a common mistake banks make is to think one depositor with 2 beneficiaries is covered for 300K and that 200K is the correct amount.

    SO WE THE INDYMAC VICTIMS WERE THE VETERANS IN THE BEGINNING OF THIS FIASCO. WE WERE THE ONES THAT SUFFERED THE BRUNT OF THE LOSSES.

    Now others have learned from our mistakes and the bank's mistakes about FDIC insurance. AND THEY ARE ALL PROTECTED to 250K.

    THE 250K FDIC COVERAGE NEEDS TO BE MADE RETROACTIVE.


    Linda Buquet - Lost $95,000

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, the uninsured Indymac depositors
    like myself seems to share the story that Bank personnel were quite unaware of how to apply proper coverage we wanted. The rules regarding the coverages seem somewhat complex, and Bank personnel not properly schooled to assure insurance coverage.

    I'm out $60,000 through no fault of my own, I also was explicitly told I was covered for 4300k was turned out only $200k when the FDIC took over.

    And why can't the FDIC/Indymac bank get some of the Fed Bailout cash to help out it's cause?

    ReplyDelete
  3. here is the contact sent to Rep Dana Rohrabacher, Beach cities, So Cali:

    Hello,

    Rep Rohrbacher's contact page assures me I will get a
    response, this is yet another attempt
    by a constituent.

    The issue is the Indymac Bank Failure and specifically
    the Long Beach branch (on PCH) that operated in Rep. Rohrabacher's district.

    I can give give great detail if needed, but both myself
    and my mother lost large amounts of hard earned money as a result of error and lack of FDIC insurance knowledge by employees of that branch prior to the failure.

    I spoke with other depositors in line at that bank and discovered my story is not unique. Other Constituents *are* affected.

    I urge Rep Rohrabacher to initiate or support any legislation to allow the new FDIC coverage of $250,000
    to be retro-active to th Indymac failure, as it is quite connected to this whole mess. We put our money and trust in a bank. Someone has to do the right thing.

    Thank You.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had a single savings at Indymac for $100,000. I was told by the bank that if I transferred the balance into a CD and added my daughter's name it would be covered for $200,000. I sent a check for an additional $55,000. Instead of a joint account, the rep set it up as an ITF (in trust for) account which was only insured for $100,00. The rest of our stories are the same. The FDIC took our money and we got robbed.
    With the recent news of the quick bank sale hopefully we won't be forgotten. If we can find just one leader that is willing to stand up for working Americans maybe we will finally get our stolen funds returned. Here's to justice for all in 2009!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am curious if any of these depositors had a "titling" issue. Did thetitle of your trust account say POD or ITF or was the berneficiary just listed in the account records

    ReplyDelete