Bank Runs?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Can anyone tell me how to gather information concerning current bank withdrawal patterns? I read posts about "I saw someone fight with a teller over a large withdrawal", and I have heard about "silent bank runs" (individuals & small business owners simply not depositing any cash at all, only checks), but I wonder how many people are actually withdrawing?

I figure if people (not those who G.I. and have pulled their cash long ago) are getting nervous about the rollover, these recent withdrawals would show as a trend, and could be compared to last year's banking activity.

I am just trying to seperate hearsay from fact. I would appreciate a link or suggestion. Thank you all.

-- JamesBond (secret@gent.man), December 14, 1999

Answers

Mr. Bond.. James Bond...I work for a major bank in the midwest, I have been on the teller line for over twenty years..I have been a GI after reading Gary North's newsletter,since April of 1998, and on this board since then as well,... I post now and then but mostly lurk...I work full time and I will tell you that every thing at the bank is very normal.. We are busy with Christmas deposits from business and you can tell how "heavy" the deposit is if they were busy that weekend or day..that tells me that people are out shopping if let say "the GAP store deposit is heavy... Business as normal I tell you.. I am very, very, suprised,,I am taking some time off the last week of december.. and I will try and find out from co- workers want happens , but I didn;t expect it to be this quiet, this close to the roll-over.. I think that if their will be bank runs , it will happen either in the last week of December or the first two weeks of Jan... I will post when I see something out of the ordinary...

-- bank teller (nine to five@working.com), December 14, 1999.

we have a lurking Bank Branch Manager here some times. Maybe we can coax her out of cloakedness to let us know if there is anywhere that these trends are collated and available to the public. Alternatively, and maybe additionally, she might be coaxed to let us know if these things are NOT normally published, how they look.

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), December 14, 1999.


Look, most people just don't have a prepper mentality. To do ANYTHING this "far" before the rollover would involve a paradigm shift in their thinking. Don't give them credit for being at all proactive.

Wait until the days between Christmas and New Year: sheeple think about two days ahead. Anything else is too abstract to worry them.

-- Servant (public_service@yahoo.com), December 14, 1999.


There will be no bank runs in the U.S. unless they happen in other countries and we see it on the evening news. Bank runs will not happen in other countries until January if they happen at all. This is why things are completely normal in the U.S. banking industry at this point. The American people are too fat and complacent to shake up their way of life by acknowledging that Y2K might actually affect them personally.

-- cody (cody@y2ksurvive.com), December 14, 1999.

One of my clients is a credit union with two branches in the plains states. They have a significant amount of cash in their safes ready for the run. Each time I'm in there I ask about the number of people pulling money out. They said it comes in waves. They have seen quite a bit of withdrawals, much more than normal at this time of year (Christmas, etc.) but nothing close to a "run".

The general feeling is that it will come, if it does, at the end of the year, between Christmas and the rollover, unless some major event happens before then.

In their case, only about 20% of their members are in the same town. Most are all over the country, so typically wouldn't walk up to the window for cash. However, they could see increased requests for checks to take to another institution.

Another datapoint....

-- Don't Worry (yourmoneyis@safe.com), December 14, 1999.



I'll have to agree with Servant on this one. I've seen too many run- ups to Hurricanes and the sheeple in the hardware stores like fleas on a cat ONLY when it becomes a 24-36 hour sure thing.(Never mind that it's Headline News for a week to ten days with satelite tracking in a collision course for all to see! Nope, the word "Preparation" is something out of their Grandparent's dictionary.

on de rock

-- Walter (on de rock@northrock.bm), December 14, 1999.


Bank runs look less and less likely to me as time goes on. I used to think they were virtually certain, now I think it will be the last week of December or not at all. That is a big relief for me. I still think the technical side of Y2K poses the biggest threat, but there was always the earlier threat of too many people preparing rationally. It looks like that danger has been avoided, and now the only danger left is the big "real" one. Despite that being potentially more serious due to the high percentage of people unprepared for any difficulties, I can't help being relieved by the way things are going so far.

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), December 14, 1999.

Could this not be due to the fact that so few people (except businesses, of course) actually have money in their banks? Nobody has a savings account anymore, and the people who have checking accounts are stripping them for Christmas shopping.

-- Liz (lizpavek@hotmail.com), December 14, 1999.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ