Colonial BancGroup Inc.’s collapse in mid-August could cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. more than double the amount it originally projected.

Colonial, which was deemed the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history after its seizure four months ago, had a current net worth of negative $5.8 billion by the end of the third quarter. That’s far worse than its original estimate of $2.8 billion to its insurance fund, according to recent data released by the FDIC.

“It basically says Colonial was a lot worse off than everybody thought it to be,” said Bert Ely of Alexandria, Virginia-based bank-consulting firm Ely & Co.

Also, the FDIC possesses more than $4.2 billion of the Montgomery, Alabama-based bank’s assets currently in liquidation. However, the FDIC also expects to lose more than $3.1 billion on those assets, according to a balance sheet posted by the FDIC.

Also, other losses could arise as the regulators attempt to untangle the web of loans held by Colonial but owned by its close partner and mortgage warehouse lender, Taylor Bean & Whitaker, which was shut down days prior to Colonial’s seizure, Ely said. Supposedly, loans were sold to Taylor Bean’s bank subsidiary, Illinois-based Platinum Community Bank, but it never received them.

“A whole bunch of mortgages are up in the air, and I don’t think it’s clear where the losses will end up,” he said.

Tony Plath, banking professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said Colonial’s loan books were “scary,” which is why the bank was shut down much sooner than many projected.

“That’s why the bank failed; it had lots and lots of bad loans,” he said.

Unrecognized losses from Colonial’s failure could hit the regulator’s cash-strapped insurance fund. At the end of the third quarter, the fund balance totaled a negative $8.2 billion, reflecting more than $38.9 billion set aside to cover estimated losses over the next year.

However, $3 billion more in losses is not devastating, especially compared with more than $20 billion in customers’ deposits that would have been in jeopardy if the FDIC did not step in, said Keivan Deravi, economics professor at Auburn University Montgomery’s Center for Business and Economic Development.

“That’s what the FDIC is set up for,” he said. “The fact that you are saving a bank and keeping the services going is much more important.”

Since the recession began, Alabama has suffered two bank failures.

Colonial, which had a plethora of exposure in the beleaguered Florida market, fell under the weight of its uncollectible loans combined with its unsuccessful bid to shore up its balance sheets with additional capital. The bank’s delinquent loans rose to more than $1.9 billion in the second quarter ended June 30, according to public documents.

The bank’s assets were acquired by Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based banking giant BB&T Corp., which assumed its deposits and $22 billion in assets.

The FDIC inked a loss-share agreement with BB&T on $15 billion of Colonial’s portfolio.

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Crystal Jarvis is a staff writer for the Birmingham Business Journal.