
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990                   TAG: 9006260031
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

S&L TROUBLES GO BACK A LONG WAY

IN A RECENT interview, L. Aubrey Goodson Jr., president of Charter Federal Savings, stated that the bank is safe because it has federal insurance. However, for a long time it has been reported that the savings-and-loan bailout will cost the taxpayers a lot of money. He also stated that Charter has no problem loans and is sound.

Charter's financial statement shows that for the year ended in 1987, real estate owned was $2,221,000, and for 1988 it had increased to $5,181,000. A recent article showed that for the year ended 1989, the overall net loss was $4.6 million.

The majority of reports state that savings and loans declined in the 1980s. The trouble actually started in the '70s when the Federal Home Loan Bank Board removed examiners from auditing large associations and gave the assignment tocertified public accountants. Change in federal regulations also caused a lot of the problems. M.L. DAVIS Retired Federal Home Loan Bank Board Examiner CHRISTIANSBURG

Editor's note: E.L. Byington Jr., Charter Federal chairman, says that deposits are insured up to $100,000 by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and are as safe as they can be in any institution.

by CNB