Comments on: Having Second Thoughts About our Bank

By: Abigail

Abigail — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:14:13 +0000

Sorry to hear about your worries. Liz Pulliam Weston did a great article about this whole subject: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/BetterBanking/what-if-your-bank-is-seized.aspx

Essentially, she says the FDIC tends to use the weekend to take over and usually has the bank up and running by Monday. But read the whole article since she goes into what happens if they can’t find a healthy bank to take over yours.

By: Budget Mama

Budget Mama — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:21:13 +0000

This was a good post. I never thought about how long it took to get back funds from the FDIC. I also checked both my banks and they got 4 stars.

By: meg

meg — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:15:08 +0000

Thanks for the link, I just checked our bank and it made me feel much better knowing they’re a 4.

onourwayonline.com

By: Jessica

Jessica — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:53:01 +0000

I think you will be okay if your bank is sold or goes under. The FDIC has been doing a pretty good job of making dure they are seemless, although many people recommend that if you suspect anything, keep copies of all your statements in case. Anyway, I reccomend a credit union if there is one available to you. Since they are non-profit, they have never tried to sell me anything, aside from the occasional flyer with my statement announcing new rates, new services, or new products that I can take advantage of. This is pretty rare however. My parents have belonged to two credit unions since they were married; a joint checking and savings account at a county credit union and my mother has a checking account and her 401(k) in a company credit union. I get pretty good rates on my emergency fund and christmas club savings, and all my other savings go through ING.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:30:23 +0000

I wouldn’t worry too much about the FDIC takeover. A bank I used years ago was taken over by the FDIC. Something to do with financial irregularities (aka people skimming money all the time). It closed on Friday and on Monday they reopened as part of another bank. I noticed no interruptions in service but, then again, I didn’t try to withdraw money between Friday and Monday. The only downside was that the new bank’s policies included a lot more fees so I ultimately ended up closing the account and moving to another bank.

By: Christy

Christy — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:51:28 +0000

Never thought I’d ever see the day where I heard someone say “I feel bad for our bank…”. LOL

By: Da Big D

Da Big D — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:37:03 +0000

Ok a few things… First, them trying to get you to open a savings account allows them to have more “accounts”. The more they have, the better off the look (its a marketing thing). They might be trying to position themselves for sale, or shocking, they might feel that you can make more money in a saving account and are looking out for your better interests.

I have had 2 banks get closed on my in the last 12 months. Needless to say, I was never without my money. The worst thing that happened was I could not access the “online” account for 24 hours. I could still use the ATM, write checks etc… The FDIC won’t say nothing will happen, because they can’t guarentee it.

Dump your money into ING and you will be fine (they bought one of my banks) if there is a closing, they are experts at it.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:34:50 +0000

Oh, for those curious – ING Bank has three stars

By: Tricia

Tricia — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:34:20 +0000

dogatemyfinances – they called our home land line. I was trying to remember if I signed an opt-out of notification when we started the account but I don’t remember. So they were probably fine with trying to market more services to me. My cable company, on the other hand, does it all the time and drives me nuts. I’ve told them to take me off their phone list (which they did) but now I get something in the mail at least once a week. What a waste of paper.

The thing that really bothered me about the call was how pushy the woman was. That always puts me off. And then I started thinking about the bigger picture about the bank’s health.

By: Joy Smith

Joy Smith — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:24:32 +0000

Our main bank isn’t even listed on there. The one that holds our mortgage is and has a 5 star rating.

By: Kev

Kev — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:18:10 +0000

I honestly wouldn’t worry about the star rating as long as your funds are FDIC insured (or NCUA insured for certain Credit Unions).

You’re probably correct in that your bank is most likely pushing it’s services in an attempt to raise capital. Financial organizations are businesses too and they want your money just as much as retailers and service companies and so on…

This is sometimes a good thing. What does Walmart do when they really want your business? – they offer incentives, deals, more coupons, etc b/c they have to compete for it. It works the same with banks – when they really want your business they offer things like free checking, better rates on savings and CD’s, and 0% transfer offers on credit cards.

Right before WaMu went down the tubes they where doing anything and everything to get people’s business. The had the best rates on short-term CDs and High-Yield savings accounts around. They were also giving out 0% credit card offers like no tomorrow. I opened up a new credit card account with them and will be finishing off my debt this year at 0%. Chase took over Wamu’s financials once they collapsed, but my 0% deal is still intact.

I loved the irony of it… Credit Card lenders took advantage of my situation for years. How fitting that I would ultimately get out of debt by taking advantage of them during their desperate time.

By: Sal

Sal — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:37:25 +0000

Tricia, this is great information. I just looked at my two banks and they are both 3 stars, which makes me a little more comfortable, but I would like to see them up around 4 stars. What are some other reasons you would want to change banks?

By: nygirl

nygirl — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:36:14 +0000

Tricia: Very interesting, thanks! I have a comment with regard to “Susan’s” post. Most lenders these days DO sell their mortgages. Usually the ones who “portfolio” their loans (Keeps them in house) are the smaller, local community banks. Just because your loan is sold does NOT change any of the terms of your mortgage. It simply means that you make your payment to someone else.

By: Brenna Kater, the Ocean Skater

Brenna Kater, the Ocean Skater — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:42:24 +0000

Thanks for the heads up on this. Thankfully, all my banks got 4 stars.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:34:56 +0000

A few weeks ago I got a little worried about the bank that holds our mortgage. This is our third house purchase using this bank and we always liked it because they don’t sell their loans. After hearing horror stories of loans that were sold I checked and the company that holds our mortgage actually made a profit the first quarter of 2008. Fortunately, all of our banks are 4 star or higher.

By: dogatemyfinances

dogatemyfinances — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:20:56 +0000

No way! They used your private information to call to spam you? A cell phone even? I don’t trust companies like that. My last car loan sold my information, and I will NEVER use that bank again.

There are a lot of banks out there. Unless this one has something really special like a convenient location, I say move on.

By: C

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:27:14 +0000

Very interesting. I always wondered what FDIC meant. I knew that it meant your money was insured, but didn’t know how they would return your monies. Thanks for the info on the star rating. I will have to check out our bank.