Best Interest Rate Banks

If you haven’t been watching the news, you may have heard that the 18th and 19th bank failure happened last weekend. Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles, California, with approximately $561.1 million in total assets and $450.1 million in total deposits, and Franklin Bank, SSB, Houston, Texas, with approximately $5.1 billion in total assets and $3.7 billion in total deposits, were both closed. In both cases, all deposits were assumed by another bank, no one lost any money, and everything continued on as usual.

When IndyMac collapsed in historically gargantuan fashion, the bank was operating as IndyMac Federal that next Monday. The reality is that bank failures, to many bank consumers, simply means the nameplate on the bank’s door has changed. With FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per account holder per institution until December 2009, there really isn’t much you have to be worried about. In the 19 failures this year, each had gone seamlessly. Some people lost money if their deposits exceeded the $100,000 insurance limit but otherwise everything worked out great.

However, people are still concerned. If you count yourself as someone who gets worried about such things, there are ways for you to pick a safer bank. First, keep up on the news. These smaller regional banks can go under without any warning but the larger ones won’t. Everyone knew about the woes of WaMu long before they were purchased.

Second, you can review the ratings by BankRate and BauerFinancial. The ratings are updated quarterly so things may change in the interim but it’s better than nothing.

Finally, ensure you have less than the FDIC insurance limit of $250,000. There really is no reason to keep more than that especially when opening new accounts is so easy. Consider one of these high yield savings accounts for your savings if you find yourself over the limit.