HARMAN, DREIER “InDY ACT” PROVIDES RETROACTIVE PROTECTION FOR INDYMAC DEPOSITORS l

Lawmaker says ~“We have spent a trillion dollars bailing out Wall Street, the auto industry and banks. It’s time for more help for Main Street.”~

Washington, D.C. – Reps. Jane Harman (D-Venice) and David Dreier (R-San Dimas) today introduced H.R. 5429, the “Investor Deposit Yardstick Act” (InDY Act) to raise retroactively the limit on the insured savings of depositors in banks that collapsed between January and October 2008, when the federal government raised the FDIC insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000 per account.

The largest savings and loan in the Los Angeles area, IndyMac, failed in July 2008, wiping out $233 million in savings from approximately 6,500 depositors overnight. Their savings were insured only up to $100,000 per account.

The legislation would also retroactively protect the savings of 1,500 depositors in five other failed banks in Florida, Montana, Arkansas, Kansas and Nevada.

“Our bill will restore to IndyMac customers what they suddenly lost in July 2008, and treat them as equals to other Americans whose savings were swallowed by the economic crisis,” said Harman. “Congress can make these people whole again. We have spent a trillion dollars bailing out Wall Street, the auto industry and banks.  It’s time for more help for Main Street.”

“Seeking fairness for former IndyMac depositors has been a priority since the bank’s takeover in the summer of 2008,” Dreier said.  “Their losses were no less difficult and no less tragic than those that occurred later that same year.  It is only fair that the families and small business owners who kept their savings with IndyMac receive the same protection as those who lost funds at other financial institutions but were covered by the higher deposit insurance amount.”