5 crisis questions answered

You've sent us an unprecedented number of questions about how to cope with this scary market. We've asked our top experts to help you out.

George Mannes, "Answer Guy" columnist

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Answer: It shouldn't be a problem to take the loss on your WaMu stock this year. You can't write off the loss until you sell the stock or it is deemed worthless in bankruptcy court, says Mark Luscombe, principal tax analyst at CCH.

Given the complications of the WaMu mess and the slow pace of the legal system, it's a safe bet the court won't declare WAMUQ shares worthless by the end of 2008, so selling them is your only option.

If you held the WAMUQ shares in a conventional brokerage account, your broker could simply sell, since there's enough of a market for the stock even now. But your situation is complicated because you hold the shares in the direct stock purchase plan (or DSPP).

BNY Mellon can't sell the stock for you, says a spokesman, because WaMu has instructed it to suspend the DSPP. But if you have a separate brokerage account, your broker should be able to retrieve the stock from your WaMu DSPP account and sell it (don't expect more than pennies a share).

But move quickly to get it done this year. E-Trade, for example, says you should leave up to 10 business days to transfer the stock to your account.

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