American S&L; Withdrawals Exceed Deposits by $1 Billion

More than $1 billion in deposits flowed out of American Savings & Loan Assn. in April, marking the third month in a row that the giant savings and loan association has shown a net loss in deposits, the thrift’s parent company disclosed Thursday.

The figures, released in a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, show that American Savings’ deposit base stood at $17.7 billion at the end of April, down $1.1 billion from March 31. Deposits were $20.3 billion last Dec. 31.

The SEC report was filed by Irvine-based Financial Corp. of America. American Savings, the country’s largest S&L;, is headquartered in Stockton.

FCA said this year’s deposit outflow partly reflected depositors’ concern about American Savings’ financial condition. FCA lost $591 million during 1984 and $38.1 million in the first quarter of 1985.

Other factors include withdrawals in March and the first half of April to pay tax bills and a planned $1.25-billion outflow of high-cost deposits in February, a spokesman for the financial institution said. The high-cost deposits weren’t renewed because American Savings lowered the interest rates paid on them, a company spokesman said.

“Substantially all” of the April outflow occurred during the first half of the month, the filing said. Company officials added that deposits have increased so far in May, but they declined to reveal the exact numbers.

“We’re very pleased with the deposit situation for the month of May,” said Paul Nussbaum, FCA’s director of investor relations.