How to Check If My Bank Is Safe?
In today's recession, it is important to choose your bank wisely to ensure you will not lose your money because a bank fails. You can determine if your bank is safe by checking whether it is FDIC insured, whether it has a positive file with the Better Business Bureau and whether it has a good financial rating.
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Instructions
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Is Your Bank Safe?
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Find out if the bank is FDIC insured. "FDIC" refers to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was established by the United States government to give consumers confidence in their bank deposits. If your bank is FDIC insured, your deposit with the bank is usually safe up to $250,000 (see References 1). If the bank fails but is FDIC insured, the government guarantees to pay you your money in the bank. On the Internet, the FDIC has provided a tool, Bank Find, to let consumers know which banks are FDIC insured. You will need to input the name of the bank and address in the search field and click "Find" (see References 2).
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Contact the Better Business Bureau. Visit the bureau's Web site to find out if any complaints have been filed against the bank. You will need to input the name of the bank and maybe its address to locate its file (see Resources1). If lots of complaints have been filed against the bank and left unresolved, you may want to find another bank.
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Find out the bank's rating. Use a bank-rating organization to get a sense of the bank's financial stability rating. Bauer Financial is a popular rating service for the nation's banking industry. You can visit their Web site to search for a bank's rating as well as a description on what the rating means (see References 3).
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