The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the organization that protects the money in your bank accounts, is currently seeking to raise the limit on the amount of money that will be protected in the event of a bank failure from $100,000. Shelia Blair, Chairman of the FDIC, did not specify an amount she would like to see it raised to. Instead, the amount of the increase, if any, will be determined. The $100,000 figure was set in 1980, and beginning in 2011, it will increase annually to account for inflation. This change was passed in 2005 by Congress.
With the public failures of both Washington Mutual (Thursday) and Wachovia (Monday), many people are looking at this on a more speculative level. While many people don’t carry nearly $100,000 in their bank accounts, many busiensses do. It is estimated that in 1991, 82% of deposits were protected while today only 63% of deposits are protected. [CNN Money]
Last Friday, my room mate Matthew and I went out to dinner at A*pplebee’s, which we do fairly often. Normally when we go the service is pretty good, even when it is particularly hectic in the restaurant. However, this trip was the exception. Without getting in to all the details, our service wasn’t that good, bordering on poor, and they were under half capacity. Our waitress just wasn’t attentive to our needs. I was sorely disappointed, and had considered taking A*pplebee’s off the list of restaurants that we frequent for awhile.
Later that evening, I was explaining the situation to my room mate David while we were standing in line at the checkout of our local Noco. A man behind us said, “Man, I hate to hear that.” He then introduced himself as the District Manager for Applebee’s, and we talked for a couple moments about the incident, and ended up exchanging contact information. He requested that I call the next day when he was in his office. The next day when I called, I explained the situation again so he could write down the details, and he was kind enough to forward me some food vouchers for our next trip. He also explained that the waitress wouldn’t be fired, but that he would personally speak to her about the service that evening. His attention to detail really shows that customer service is important to their company. Obviously they are there to turn a profit, but it’s nice to see that their management is willing to go the extra mile to ensure customers are happy.
Some people may see this as a plug, which it isn’t. My only “payment” was the vouchers for our trouble. I just like to point out when organizations take the extra time. The manager in my adventure could have easily not said a word. He wasn’t working, wasn’t in a corporate shirt, and just happened to be shopping. His dedication to customer service, however, showed through.
Update: Matt, Dave and I returned to the A*pplebee’s in question earlier this week. The store manager came over when she saw our vouchers and personally thanked us for giving the store another chance. Dedication!
Earlier this week, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) stepped in to bail out Washington Mutual, which was failing as a result of nearly $20 billion in mortgage losses, partially as a result of the sub prime lending crisis. Parts of the Seattle based bank are expected to be purchased by JP Morgan Chase, one of only five banks that had considered placing a bid for the now defunct organization. Washington Mutual put itself up for sale about a week ago.
WaMu was under some pressure to secure a deal from creditors and ratings companies. It’s sinking stock value and decreasing credit ratings would only cause more issues in the long run. The move to aquire portions of WaMu by Chase serves as good news to the tax payers, as FDIC is not expected to directly fund any portion of the purchase.
This week I am on vacation from my “9 to 5″ as a property manager, so I am taking a little bit of time to relax. Last weekend my friends and I took our second trip of the season to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.
We took our first trip back in May, and this is when I learned to face my fears regarding roller coasters. The trip went exceptionally well. I’m proud to say that I rode every single coaster in the park, some of them twice! My favorites are the Maverick, pictured left, as well as the Millenium Force and the Top Thrill Dragster. Top Thrill is still the most challenging to me, because there is a certain level of psychological torture that they put you through at the beginning of the ride. Basically, you “stage”, just like you would in a dragster, then its 17 seconds from beginning to end of ride. I can’t do it justice trying to explain it, so have a look at this YouTube video (not shot by me). Note the light sequence like you would see at a drag race.
My plans for this week include finishing up some reading, both fiction and function. In the fuction section, I have Snow Crash. I have started reading this book 5 times now, and end up setting it down and forgetting about it. All of my room mates have read it, so they are now harassing me to finish it. In the function section, I have some marketing materials that I want to finish going over for the real estate side of my life.
I finally got a new laptop and sold my Vaio! Matt had just upgraded so he was looking to offload his HP, which I gladly purchased from him. He treats his computers better than most parents treat their children, so I know I’m getting a quality machine for a reasonable price. Best of all, I won’t have to listen to the fans on this one like I did the old one.
I’m going to try to get some actual worthwhile blog entries up here this week, so stay tuned.
The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), the organization that protects the money in your bank accounts, is currently seeking to raise the limit on the amount of money that will be protected in the event of a bank failure from $100,000. Shelia Blair, Chairman of the FDIC, did not specify an amount she would like to see it raised to. Instead, the amount of the increase, if any, will be determined. The $100,000 figure was set in 1980, and beginning in 2011, it will increase annually to account for inflation. This change was passed in 2005 by Congress.
