2007–2008 financial crisis

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Timeline

See also: Global financial crisis in September 2008, Global financial crisis in October 2008, Global financial crisis in November 2008, Global financial crisis in December 2008, Global financial crisis in 2009, United States bear market of 2007–2009, Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Regulatory responses to the subprime crisis, and Subprime mortgage crisis solutions debate
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2007 (September–December)


People queuing outside a Northern Rock
branch in the United Kingdom to withdraw
their savings during the financial crisis.

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2008 (September)

• September 7, 2008: The Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was implemented.
• September 15, 2008: After the Federal Reserve declined to guarantee its loans as it did for Bear Stearns, the Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers led to a 504.48-point (4.42%) drop in the DJIA, its worst decline in seven years. To avoid bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America for $50 billion in a transaction facilitated by the government. Lehman had been in talks to be sold to either Bank of America or Barclays but neither bank wanted to acquire the entire company.
• September 18, 2008: In a dramatic meeting, United States Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Chair of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke met with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and warned that the credit markets were close to a complete meltdown. Bernanke requested a $700 billion fund to acquire toxic mortgages and reportedly told them: "If we don't do this, we may not have an economy on Monday".
• September 26, 2008: Washington Mutual went bankrupt and was seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after a bank run in which panicked depositors withdrew $16.7 billion in 10 days.

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