Sweet Redemption

So, a story today provided me with some much needed vindication in my life. I'm not one who typically remains bitter, but four years ago I lost a very good job due largely in part to IndymacBank. I was a Senior Help Desk tech at the time and the contact I was working on was for them, however my career was quickly cut short due to objections I raised about how they were wanting our company to bill them.

The methods they were asking us to use were definitely gray area, if not downright fraudulent. When I objected and continued to bill their company the proper way, the way we were under contract to bill them, I was quickly put on the proverbial shit-list and dismissed from the company shortly after.

Therefore, I take complete and total satisfaction in the knowledge that IndymacBank, effective today, has been closed and completely shut down by the FDIC's Office of Thrift Supervision. The FDIC will be taking over their accounts, however the balances of most deposit accounts will be trimmed to a max of $100,000 as a result.

While I feel badly for the customers who lost money, and the many employees who's jobs were eliminated as a result, there is some small part of me that feels this company deserved exactly what they got. I've also learned that Indymac was heavily involved in one of the most disasterous segments of the mortgage market, as reported by CNN:

Over the past two years, IndyMac has dropped over 95% in stock price, or about $3.5 billion in market capitalization. Shares traded down nearly 10% on Friday to close at 28 cents.

IndyMac lost $184.2 million in the first quarter and announced on Monday that it was expecting a wider loss for the second quarter. It lost $614 million last year stemming from its focus on the Alt-A mortgage sector, where it originates loans to borrowers who fall between prime (or conforming) and sub-prime on the credit spectrum. The lender's chief executive, Michael Perry, had long argued that it was being unfairly punished given its relatively paltry exposure to sub-prime mortgages.

Rising Alt-A and prime mortgage delinquencies likely were enough indication for investors, however, that the housing crisis had moved beyond the weakest borrowers. Even worse, with the securitization markets in collapse, IndyMac has no way to get new loans off its books. As it turns out, IndyMac was a leader in loans requiring little income and asset documentation, a category that has had disastrous levels of delinquencies at other troubled lenders.

As I read this, I couldn't help but think "none of this suprises me in the slightest." Good riddens, Indymac.