Most of the IndyMac branches being acquired by Northbrook, Ill.-based Prospect are former offices of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. of Melville, N.Y., another casualty of the meltdown in home loans, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August.
The locations of the offices weren't disclosed.
IndyMac had taken over the leases on about 90 American Home Mortgage offices and kept its employees on as part of a push to diversify into direct-to-consumer loans from its traditional business of loans made through independent brokers.
In a regulatory filing Tuesday, IndyMac repeated its earlier statements that depositors had been withdrawing funds at an "elevated" pace since late last month, when Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, publicly questioned its ability to survive.
But several offices visited Tuesday were calm.
At the Arcadia branch, Joseph Gadoury, 43, said he had one account left with IndyMac after liquidating about $60,000 in certificates of deposit last week. He said he had shut the CD accounts after seeing dozens of anxious customers withdrawing their money.
"If the Great Depression looked like something, it's got to look like what I saw that day," said Gadoury, who manages a computer parts business. "It was a terrible sight."
Others weren't as concerned. Corey Pekerol, 32, said he was adding $20,000 to his savings account at the Arcadia branch, saying he believed the federal government would come to IndyMac's aid.
"If I didn't have confidence it was going to be there, I probably wouldn't do it," said Pekerol, a general contractor from Monrovia.
Robert Leach, 53, who stopped by the Duarte branch in the afternoon, said he was considering closing his CD and money market accounts because "I'm nervous."
"How difficult is it going to be to get my money if they shut down? I don't want to jump through too many hoops," said Leach, a high school teacher from Azusa.
A number of IndyMac depositors have expressed similar concerns in recent weeks. But the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which becomes the receiver for failed banks and thrifts, said it generally can find another institution to take over deposits in such cases, so depositors wind up with the same account at a different bank without losing access to their funds.
If the deposits aren't transferred to another bank, the FDIC says, it generally is able to issue checks for insured deposits within a business day or two.
It insures up to $100,000 per depositor plus $250,000 per retirement account. IndyMac said it could help depositors structure their accounts so they were 100% insured. The FDIC's toll-free information line is (877) ASK-FDIC.
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scott.reckard@latimes.com
andrea.chang@latimes.com
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Times staff writer Tom Petruno contributed to this report.
