A run on Indymac? Not at this branch.

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News item: IndyMac today blamed a U.S. senator for spooking depositors into pulling their money out of its banks. From Bloomberg: ‘IndyMac Bancorp, the U.S. mortgage company forced to stop most of its lending as capital deteriorated, has faced ‘elevated levels of deposit withdrawals’ since Senator Charles Schumer said last month the bank may fail. Schumer’s comments about the California lender’s reliance on deposits purchased from third parties are causing customers to pull their money and making it harder to raise funds, the company said in a regulatory filing today.’

Your blogger biked over to the Santa Monica branch of IndyMac’s bank this morning and witnessed no evidence of an old-fashioned run on the bank. Two elderly gentlemen were waiting on the sidewalk for the bank to open at 9 a.m. Neither wanted to be quoted by name, but both were willing to talk.

One of the two told me he was closing his account. ‘I know it’s insured,’ he said. ‘I’m just concerned about it. I don’t want to be last in line.’ He peered inside the bank and asked, ‘Do you think they’re going to open today?’

I asked the second gentleman if he too was closing his account. He tilted his head a little and gave me a look that said, ‘Are you kidding?’

‘It’s FDIC-insured!’ he said loudly. ‘It’s guaranteed!’ I asked if he knew of the bank’s recent troubles and he interrupted: ‘It’s on the front page of the Los Angeles Times! It’s in the Journal!’ He said he was making a withdrawal but not closing his account.

The first gentleman interrupted: ‘Do you think they’re going to open today?’

The branch did open, at 8:50 a.m., 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

Your thoughts? Comments? E-mail story tips to peter.viles@latimes.com

Photo: Advertisement at the Santa Monica branch of IndyMac.