Keeping track of who’s paying back.

UPDATE (May 11, 2009): Last Thursday, American Express (AXP) CEO Kenneth Chenault said the company had filed to return its $3.4 billion in TARP funds, pointing toward $25 billion in held cash and securities to fund the repayment. The announcement followed the Treasury's release of stress test results, which indicated the credit card firm did not need new capital.

This pledge is by far the largest to date and bumps the total for the category to $4.834 billion. If approved by the Fed and Treasury, it would earn Amex the first coveted spot in Tim Geithner's Golden Circle. Keep your fingers crossed for Amex!

UPDATE (May 8, 2009): This past Tuesday, Sterling Bancshares Inc. (SBIB), of Houston, Texas returned all of its $125.2 million in TARP money to the Treasury. That nudges the total funds repaid to $1,162,568,000.

Ironically, Sterling's donation to the TARP-Meter falls short of the $500 million needed to earn it the first spot in Neil Kashkari's Silver Circle. But it does get the company into Elizabeth Warren's TARP Club ... Let's hear it for those Houston bankers!

UPDATE (April 29, 2009): Good news TARP-o-Meter fans. Thanks to the April repayments of $TARP by a handful of banks (that slipped under our radar before), the grand sum of lent funds returned to Treasury coffers is now approximately $1,037,368,000.

Five smaller financial institutions -- Sun Bancorp (SNBC) of Vineland, NJ, Shore Bancshares (SHBI) of Easton, MD, Independent Bank Corp. (INDB) of Rockland, MA, FirstMerit Corp. (FMER) of Akron, OH and First United Labor Bank of Oakland, CA -- chipped in to repay $322.368 million in total, on top of the $715 million already tracked.

Click here for a full list of who paid back what, and when. Thanks again banks!

UPDATE (April 28, 2009): Yesterday, Northern Trust Corporation (NRTS) announced its plan to raise and repay $1.25 billion it borrowed under TARP. While this doesn't amount to the full $1.5 billion it received, it is the largest return sum pledged to date. If the Treasury clears the bank to pay back the funds, their receipt would be the first to break the $1 billion mark, earning Northern Trust a coveted spot in "Tim Geithner's Golden Circle," the second-tier of the Tarp-o-Meter's new donor roll. We're pulling for you Northern Trust!

We also decided, in the spirit of the times, to clean up our accounting practices. We've added a "Not Lent" category to represent the $110 billion worth of TARP money that is being reserved in case any other banks need a bailout. Also, Goldman Sachs was making a lot of noise earlier in April about wanting to pay back their full $10 billion share. But they still haven't shown us the money. So they've been bumped from the pledge category. Sorry to the kids over at Goldman: when Mr. Geithner's convinced you're ready to play nice, we'll let you back in the clubhouse.

So what's the the TARP-o-Meter total? Right now, the available pool equals $110.715 billion, with $110 billion not lent, and $715 million repaid. The total pledged for return is $1.434 billion. Click here for a full list of which banks paid what, and when.