My bank is looking bleak

[Sue J]

I've been banking with Amtrust Bank (used to be Ohio Savings) for years and recently the news about them has been pretty grim.

AmTrust Bank says it's working to satisfy regulators -- but deadline looms - Business – cleveland.com

The deadline has been extended to Jan. 25.

Crain's Cleveland Business: AmTrust submits new business plan to federal regulators

Read the "Linked Articles" for the details. I got curious and started reading blogs by employees (most are now former employees) and with all the people being laid off and the rest being bitter and miserable it's a wonder they are still able to operate. The gist of it is that it looks like they may be taken over or sold or somehow closed down by regulators.

We have our main checking accounts and our immediate need savings account there. I have all the auto-pay bills linked to the checking accounts.

I'm wondering if I should pull everything out of there and get set up somewhere else. They are FDIC insured. In the past we had CDs and a Safe Deposit Box but don't have either of those now. If they get shut down/taken over or sold is there a smooth transition? How long of a delay should I anticipate?

I hate to behave like the depositors in "It's a Wonderful Life" but this isn't a movie, it's our bank.

Have any of you been through a bank failure? How was the transition? Am I nuts to keep our accounts open there?

[SteveL]

If the FDIC, or FSLIC is going to get them, if it sold, it will be very seamless to you. If is going down the drain, the FDIC will pay you within a couple of weeks. For WAMU folks, they never knew what happened, very seamless.