LENDER STATUS

The banking melt-down continues as we see that homeowners aren’t the only ones struggling with loans taken out in the past few years. From 6/2005- 6/2007 the region's top 10 mortgage lenders made 176,451 purchase, refinance, and home equity loans in the Sacramento area. Here is the latest on those finnciual institutions according to DataQuick Information Systems:

Countrywide Financial Corp.
· Former Rank #1
· $7.7 Billion in loans.
· Status: Countrywide imploded this year, purchased by B of A – they are retiring the name as it has been tarnished.
· Has been sued by four states over its lending practices - CA, FL, Illinois & Washington

Wells Fargo
· Former Rank #2
· $6.5 billion in loans
· Status: RBC Capital maintained an outperform rating on Wells Fargo stock saying they are like to survive the downturn better than their peers

WAMU
· Former Rank #4
· $4.6 billion in loans
· Investors have rushed for the exits even though the banks have issued statements saying it is adequately capitalized. Share prices fell from $42.90 to $4.99 last Thursday Wall St. analysts suggests the institution is troubled because of its exposure to failed mortgages.

Golden 1 Credit Union
· Former Rank: Unknown
· $1.2 billion in loans
· The Sacramento based statewide credit union says conservative practices helped steer clear of loan problems that other competitors are experiencing.

World Savings Bank
· Unknown
· $2.9 billion
· Bought by Wachovia Bank in May, and the CEO Ken Thompson referred to it during a annual shareholders meeting as a “bad acquisition”. He resigned in June...

Make sure you are in an FDIC insured institution, and that your funds are covered. $100,000 per individual, $200,000 per couple. There were a ton on Indy Mac customers who had lost money due because they did not keep this fact in mind.