Friday, September 26, 2008

Fun with money

As many of you know Washington Mutual (WaMu) made some pretty bad choices with sub-prime lending. Some parts of the holding company has been downgraded to junk status, but their bank part is actually pretty solid. They're my bank and I've decided to leave my money in there. In fact, I just moved over my housing deposit from INGDirect. Because WaMu has taken a PR hit, they're offering some pretty good rates - 4% on savings with no fees or minimum balance if you have a checking account. Pretty sweet eh? Even if the bank goes under, I'll be ok because the money will all be FDIC insured.

Housing prices are still dropping like crazy so I might hold off on buying one until a little later into next year - maybe January or February. I don't want to wait too long, but I might be able to save an extra $25-50k. I'll just go month-to-month on my current lease starting in January. I'm sure it'll cost me more, but that's ok. I might actually be able to get a decent place rather than just a cheap place.

Edit: I just saw this story about WaMu five seconds after hitting "post". Heh. I've got great timing. I wonder if they'll rename the bank or what --> I just logged on and the website looks the same except it says, "Welcome to JPMorganChase" in places.

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