IndyMac Bancorp

IndyMac's July 2008 FDIC seizure was one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history, triggered by a bank run after Senator Chuck Schumer released a letter questioning the bank's viability. The bank's Alt-A mortgage lending had created a portfolio of loans that defaulted as housing prices fell. The mechanism failure was public signal triggering bank run—the Schumer letter created the panic that killed IndyMac.