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Monday, October 26, 2009
Morgan Housel :: Townhall.com Columnist
Anatomy of a Terrible Bank
by Morgan Housel
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Will the Dems' health care Christmas Present to America be an improvement or detriment to our health care system?


Banks never really die. Fail, yes. But not die. How nice it would be if borrowers' loans disappeared when their bank went under. Everyone with loans at the 103 banks that have failed this year would be set free. No more mortgage. No more car loan. No more credit card bill.

Sadly, it doesn't work that way. Thanks mostly to the FDIC, assets of failed banks seamlessly shift to the hands of stronger ones.

Never was this more apparent than when Washington Mutual failed last fall -- the largest bank failure in history. Almost instantly, WaMu's assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM).

Thankfully for us, JPMorgan still reports some of WaMu's results separately from its own. And guess what? They're absolutely, horrifically, disturbingly terrible. If you've ever wondered what a positively wrecked bank looks like, check out WaMu's credit card default rate in comparison to peers:

Bank

Credit Card Default Rate

Discover Financial (NYSE: DFS)

8.39%

American Express (NYSE: AXP)

8.60%

JPMorgan Chase

9.41%

Capital One (NYSE: COF)

9.59%

Citigroup (NYSE: C) Continued...
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About The Author

Morgan Housel is a Motley Fool contributor.

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