A list of Banks that are not insolvent?

Spooly

I'm looking for a list of banks that are financially sound. Anyone have any suggestions? I want to move my Safety Deposit Boxes to a bank that won't close its doors or change names in the middle of the night.


I'm also considering moving some PM's to a private vault. The government would have a harder time controlling Non-Bank Safety Deposit Boxes.

Private Vault

derryb

Your local credit union should be in great financial shape. Too small too fail.

MsMorrisine

to prevent runs on the banks, the Fed Res and FDIC do not publish their "endangered" bank list.


generally the large regional banks (but not national) are good. generally they did not get as involved in the mortgage mess as the national banks.

JCMhouston

<< <i>I'm also considering moving some PM's to a private vault. The government would have a harder time controlling Non-Bank Safety Deposit Boxes. >>



That's what they thought in the UK until the police went in and opened all boxes in a private facility since "they could contain evidence of illegal activity".

OPA

<< <i>Your local credit union should be in great financial shape. Too small too fail. >>





My primary checking account is with a local Federal C.U.

However, a lot of C.U's are also in a financial pickle. Before switching your account to any financial institution, I would check on their ratings.. Avoid those with a 2 or less rating.

Bank rating for Thrift, Credit Unions & Nat'l Banks

Spooly

OPA...... Thanks for the link!

stevek

<< <i>I'm looking for a list of banks that are financially sound. Anyone have any suggestions? I want to move my Safety Deposit Boxes to a bank that won't close its doors or change names in the middle of the night.


I'm also considering moving some PM's to a private vault. The government would have a harder time controlling Non-Bank Safety Deposit Boxes.

Private Vault >>



If the bank is a publicly traded company, and a good number of them are, just check out the stock price and that will give you perhaps the best indication of how financially sound they are...certainly a better indication than any internet report, in my opinion.

Usually on Yahoo, etc, along with the stock price is their basic financial information as well...but again the stock price is the best indicator as all that financial information is already digested into the stock price along with short term anticipation of earnings or problems built in as well.

derryb

Bankrate.com

The definition of a sound bank is not what it used to be. Stock price of a bank or balance sheet are not good indicators of a bank's solvency. The Financial Standards Accounting Board (FASB) was forced by Congress in 2008 to allow banks to not have to show the true value of their bad assests (think mortgages). This did away with "mark to market" requirement in order to keep them from going under. Besides taxpayer bailouts, the biggest thing keeping insolvent banks from folding is the false sense of security provided by an FDIC insurance program that is in no condition to cover accounts should depositors all show up at the bank to claim their money. The bigger the bank, the bigger the time bomb. Bank analyst Reggie Middleton digs pretty deep into their insolvency, do a search for his blogs.

I would not keep any more cash than necessary in a bank account. I would definitely not buy investment products from them. Keep in mind that banks paying the highest interest rate on deposits are the ones in the worst shape. My preference remains a local credit union with Safe Deposit Boxes.

percyb

US Bank Corp. out of Minn. They're nation wide. They are sound.

lightcycler

LINKY

TOP 100 safest US Banks

You have to register and you will get some emails....I think they are good..........but there ya go.

Spooly

Do credit unions use Fractional Reserve Banking?

derryb

<< <i>Do credit unions use Fractional Reserve Banking? >>


Yes. Fractional reserve banking (also known as fractional lending) is where a bank does not retain all of its customers' deposits. Fractional reserve banking is the most common form of banking and is practiced in almost all countries. Credit Unions are considered "banks" in this regard and are governed by the same rules. A demand deposit at a bank (i.e. checking or savings account) is considered a loan to the institution, repayable on demand, that the bank can use to finance its investments in loans and interest bearing securities. The percentage of savings and checking account deposits that cannot be loaned back out (currently 0-10%) is referred to as the "reserve requirement" and is determined by the size of the financial institution. The central bank manipulates reserve requirements to manipulate the money supply and interest rates, which many see as essential to a healthy economy (if properly "manipulated").

Fractional banking means that virtually no bank has anywhere near the money that depositors have given them (90-100% of it was allowed to be loaned out). The reserve requirement and the FDIC insurance "promise" are the depositor's "protection." I prefer credit unions over banks because credit unions have proven to be more prudent in their loaning procedures, primarily because of their smaller size resulting in better safeguarding of the amount of my money that they do loan out.

Just about any bank could easily be put out of business with a coordinated effort by not even a large percentage of depositors who all show up on the same day and demand their deposits.