Banks: Take my TARP. Please!

[PBS Poll-435]

Banks: Take my TARP. Please!

A growing number of banks are already aiming to return taxpayer funds. Some analysts wonder how easy it will be to give the money back.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
Last Updated: March 11, 2009: 11:07 AM ET



NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Taxpayers hate the bank bailout. Lawmakers too. And now it looks like some of the bailed out banks themselves are starting to get fed up with it as well.

Just weeks after Congress removed a key hurdle that prevented banks from paying back funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, some banks are already queuing up with checks in hand.

So far, three banks have formally declared their intentions to pay back the government. Last month, Louisiana-based IberiaBank Corp. (IBKC) said it would return $90.6 million while TCF Financial (TCB), a bank headquartered just outside of Minneapolis announced last week it was returning $361.2 million.

And other big banks, including PNC (PNC, Fortune 500) and US Bancorp (USB, Fortune 500), as well as JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) and Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), have been stating they hope to return the funds as quickly as possible. A repayment by those four alone would return an estimated $49.2 billion to government coffers.

[jwirr]

1. Why?

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4. They don't need the money

(And the scrutiny/3rd degree with every expenditure)

[Sultana]

5. The strings attached

the fuckers don't like strings

[w4rma]

2. Awesome! Sounds like the nation's economy is getting back on track. With interest, please. (nt)

[Kdillard]

3. Thanks and we will take it back with interest.

I don't understand if these institutions didn't need the money they just shouldn't have taken it like others have done. Also it really sounds like they are against following the guidelines now that there are rules and scrutiny that comes with the money.

[Historic NY]

6. Every dollar should be then put to offset the Obama's stimulis plan..

I think most took the money not becaue of need but because of greed.

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7. Some needed it, some were "forced" to take it

A mutual agreement was made between the big banks and the Treasury Department that every bank would take a little TCPP (Treasury Capital Purchase Plan) so that no one bank would look "better" or more solvent than the others.

In retrospect, Wells Fargo, Northern Trust and many others would have refused the money because of the stigma that comes with being "bailed out." They didn't need the money and can't wait to pay it back.

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8. kick

Come on!

Krugman!