The collapse of Wall Street, which spurred an epic economic recession, has claimed its 88th victim in the banking industry. Baltimore’s Ideal Federal Savings Bank was closed on July 9 by the Office of Thrift Supervision and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was appointed receiver. The Black-owned institution, which opened its doors in 1920 and was founded to help Black families purchase homes, was one of the few remaining minority-owned banks in the region.
Account holders have been assured by the FDIC that insured deposits will be available for withdrawal from July 12 to July 24 at the N. Howard Street branch of the Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. Account holders over the $250,000 statutory limit should contact the FDIC directly to find out the status of their accounts.
Ideal customers are no longer able to write checks and should handle all withdrawals in person at M&T Bank. Funds that have not been accessed by July 24 will be mailed to the address on record for the account holder, said LaJuan Williams-Young, an FDIC spokesman, and that process will begin on the business day after the deadline. M&T Bank will also honor federal direct deposits for social security payments and veteran’s benefits through Sept. 24.
The Office of Thrift Supervision, the federal regulatory arm for the nation’s thrift industry, said in a statement that “Ideal was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business and was undercapitalized, with no reasonable prospect of becoming adequately capitalized.”
At the time of the closure, the FDIC reported that Ideal had holdings of $6.3 million in assets and $5.8 million in total deposits. The estimated cost to the FDIC is about $2.1 million.