Banks take advantage of federal bailout money

Officials plan to build capital, invest, fund operations

By KATIE ARCIERI, Staff Writer

Published 01/11/09

Banks across Anne Arundel County are using millions of dollars from the government to increase balance sheets, leverage assets and lend money in a recession that has paralyzed growth.

Paul W. Gillespie — The Capital At the BB&T Church Circle branch, teller Petra Wimbish counts some money on a recent day. BB&T, already a healthy bank, is one of several financial institutions participating in the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program designed to boost the economy.

From the national Bank of America to the local Severn Savings Bank, several financial institutions with a local presence have been approved to participate in the U.S. Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

The program - in which the federal government purchases preferred stock in banks - is designed to stabilize the economy and increase the flow of credit to consumers.

As many of the participating banks struggle...

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rewards - 2009-01-17 16:13:31

thats how i see this whole bank bail out they are being rewarded for incompetence ,greed,poor business practice,lying,cheating,stealing,the goverment should be investigating their practices it's crimanal and prosecuting loan officers who wrote this loans but no lets give them the tax payers money to help the poor banks out this is BS.if you run your company poorly sorry you should fail

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edward madden - edgewater, MD - Karma: Bad

It will happen - 2009-01-15 06:11:55

When we have run out of paper and ink, and stop printing money for a failed banking industry, is when these banks will be allowed to fail. I wonder if/when the general public will stop being misled into believing that the failure of some of these big banks is not acceptable. This is how capitalism works, you fail, you either restructure, declare bankruptcy or get "bought out". Since when should we ever, blindly, keep throwing billions of dollars at something that does not work. This takes every bit of incentive and reward for those companies and industries that are successful, specifically small and local businesses. How are they expected to keep up with companies that seemingly have unlimited financing, even when these huge companies can no longer produce a profitable product? It makes me sick.

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Johnathan Locke - Edgewater, MD - Karma: Good

TARP - 2009-01-14 13:57:32

Someone please find a way we can track how and where thi smoney is spent! Sounds like we are fixing the problem with the source of the problem.

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J H - Arnold, MD - Karma: Bad

Banks not good for biz - 2009-01-14 09:08:25

Small business owners are not going to banks because of this exact reason. The banking institution needs a chance to fail in order to be rebuilt again. Small business owners are the ones to suffer and we need to have the rebound to happen already, enough of the bailout.

Sincerely,

Ilya Bodner
Small Business Owner
Initial Underwriting Group

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ilya bodner - Columbus, OH - Karma: Bad

Bank Loans - 2009-01-12 07:40:48

I am abit perplexed, whereas the Bank's got into this mess making bad loans to people who actually did not qualify for them and now with TARP money they lower the loan standards AGAIN to make loans to less the qualified persons. What am I missing here?

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ramarro smith - windsor mill, MD - Karma: Neutral