Bye, bye, Wachovia

I've been waiting for this news for a few months now, and the day has come: Wachovia has sold its assets (and liabilities up to $42bil) to Citigroup. So I guess our next mortgage payment will be going to Citigroup, which Ken jokingly says cannot be since then he'd be indirectly supporting the Mets. Well, who cares, now that they're out of the pennant race anyway? ;)

I continue to have unsettled feelings about the economy, the bailout that's in process, and the volatile oil-price situation. We're on track to be free of all debt (credit cards, student loans, car payments) but our mortgage by sometime in 2010, but what happens in the meantime? What happens to the home improvement project we'd wanted to do in the spring? We have a great credit rating, but should we even risk taking out a home equity loan? Should we just putter around next year, doing smaller projects around the house so we feel better about our home but only use money that comes directly from our paychecks, not from a creditor?

The one thing I do feel good about is that our "life savings" (wait a second while a giggle....ok, moving on) is at the credit union, which is financially sound since they didn't take part in any subprime mortgage lending. I'd get rid of my accounts at Commerce Bank (which recently merged with TD Banknorth), but it's the only way to keep cash available locally and seven days/week. It's nearly impossible for us to get to a branch of the credit union since the closest one is in South Philly near the stadiums, and we're about 20mi from there. Plus, they keep bankers' hours, while Commerce has at least some hours every single day. Very nice. I know our money is FDIC insured (I mean, let's be honest, we're waaaay below 100,000), but still, if a bank goes under, it's bound to cause a ripple effect in our lives while we put the money elsewhere and change over our automated payments. I don't really know what Commerce/TD's status is right now in the financial world. Guess that's some research I need to do.

Meanwhile, we still await the gas line we need for our new home heating efforts this winter. Maybe the steam pouring out of my ears will get us through until they show up to install the line, though.