TARP Banks Missing Payments! Time to Send the Repo Man?

by Ron Daly 

Read this article the other day: "More Than 90 Banks Miss TARP Payments". According to the article, 91 banks and thrifts skipped the May TARP payment, seventeen more than those that missed payment in February and 36 more than those that missed their payment in November. 

I don't know how that makes YOU feel, but I'm guessing you're not slowly clapping at your computer, impressed with the great strides made. I'm guessing you're in a state of disbelief and, like me, you find it insulting that for eight of these banks this is the FIFTH MISSED PAYMENT. 

Now, before I get too steamed, let's be fair - according to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, banks have repaid about 75% of the TARP money they got back in 2008 and the start of 2009. The impact on the taxpayer is expected to be around $105 billion all in all, which is down from an initial estimate of $341 billion. So not all the news is bad news on the TARP front.

But still - five missed TARP payments? How does any bank get away with that? I know you're not all "money people", but five missed payments on anything else nets you a visit from the repo man. 

Your car loan's not paid up and you haven't taken steps to talk to the bank? They're coming for it. Some big, burly guys are going to roll up to your driveway, put the thing on a wrecker and take it back to the branch. Simple, right? 

It's more complicated for banks. The CNBC article calls out Midwest Banc Holdings as an example of a bank that just couldn't cut it: 

In some cases, small banks are renegotiating the repayment terms. Midwest Banc Holdings, for example, agreed to swap $84.8 million in preferred shares issued under the TARP program in 2008 for $15.5 million in common shares. That would have meant an 80 percent loss for the government—and the U.S. taxpayer—on the initial investment. But the swap was contingent on the bank raising more private capital, which it failed to do. Regulators seized the bank in May.

Is there not more that can be done? Are we just going to have to eat the losses without any upside? AIG has already cost us something in the area of $180 billion, for which we get nothing. Foreclosures and housing numbers are still in rough shape and many "toxic assets" have yet to be dealt with by their holders. The oversight panel can keep an eye and raise concerns, but where's the repercussion for those that don't make the payments? While we're all so busy looking for "asses to kick", let's point our foot at those institutions who balk at repaying the taxpayer for OUR investment.  

What do you think? What do we do with banks that haven't paid? What do we "repo"?