"JP Morgan Chase Owns Me!"

My friend and his wife have a new owner. J.P. Morgan Chase owns their home, three credit-card balances and now a checking account, which was once housed at Washington Mutual, the failed institution. My friend's other accounts -- a mortgage and the credit-card debt -- pre-dated the recent financial meltdown.

To diversify his financial holdings, my friend had spread his money around: JP Morgan for the home loan, Citibank (for a secondary checking/savings account) and Washington Mutual (for the main checking account). But with the recent failure of WaMu, most of my friend's financial holdings are now at JP Morgan.

"JP Morgan owns me," he said. "JP Morgan owns my butt."

Those are strong words from a usually mild-mannered techie. His utterance was mixed with laughter. But as they say: "The truth was in the joke."

Beyond bemused laughter, he felt a sense of relief. In fact, a few of us had spent a good part of the week wondering if my friend should pull his money out of WaMu. We discussed that issue early yesterday. Check out this post: What Happens to Your Money When the Bank Goes Under?

My friend and his wife are now relieved. They believe that JP Morgan is a solid bank. What's more, the banking behemoth probably falls into that category of too-big-to-fail. Meanwhile, my friend gives JP Morgan high marks for the speedy transition. This morning, he checked out the WaMu website and was greeted by the JP Morgan logo, a welcome letter and a very helpful set of frequently asked questions.

My friend nodded in approval. But then he shook his head and laughed and grimaced:
"JP Morgan owns me," he repeated.


Articles of interest:

WaMu bank customers flock to branches to find business as usual

CEO of failed WaMu could get millions

WaMu Is Seized, Sold Off to JP Morgan,
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