A Personal Finance Guide

Wachovia Bank – Is My Money Safe?

The bad news is all over the TV, radio, and internet. These are hard times for the banking industry right now, and we’re seeing a lot of casualties. Some of America’s biggest banks and financial firms are going under or being taken over by other companies because their balance sheets are such a mess. Lehman Brothers is no more. Merrill Lynch is now a subdivision of Bank of America. These are two of the oldest, biggest, and most trusted financial service companies on wall street. Last week, Washington Mutual was taken over by another bank. And now we read that yet another huge national bank, Wachovia, is being taken over by Citibank. Oh, Wachovia will retain some assets, and the name will continue in some form, but they’re out of the consumer banking business.

What does this mean for you if you’re one of the millions of people who have money in a Wachovia account? Should you rush to the bank and withdraw everything? Is your money safe? Will it still be there next month? If you’re asking yourself these questions, you’re not alone – millions of other Americans are asking themselves the very same things.

But there’s no need to panic. All of Wachovia’s customer accounts still exist. They’ve just been transferred to Citibank, and the name of your local Wachovia branch will probably be changing to Citibank, too. Your money is safe, and you still have every penny you had deposited. On top of that, your deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an arm of the federal government. Each account is insured up to $100,000.

So there’s no need to panic over Wachovia being taken over, or worry that you’ll lose your life savings. Should the financial crisis spread, and things continue to spiral out of control, however, you’ll need to consult an expert financial planner. Some people are saying the FDIC needs to start insuring accounts up to 1 million dollars each. If you have more than $100,000 in any single bank account, it might be a good idea to spread that out among several accounts with different banks. That way each account is fully insured, and your eggs aren’t all in one basket. But for now you’re fine, and any funds you had in Wachovia are still there, just with a Citibank name out front.

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