If regional banks are in trouble, what is the best bank to put your money in?

[Orchidflower]

Want2retire posted a nice article about 1,000 regional banks possibly closing, but I cannot get the link to work. I pulled it from the previous post I had on the banking industry.

As a follow up to the post on banks going down--and if Wilbur Ross says it is mainly regional banks--then which banks would be best to place your money in?
ING was suggested to me. Are there more out there that I should investigate? Any suggestions as to which banks are safe and secure during this rough patch? Does Ross suggest using the majors only like Wells Fargo (ugh! but you get the idea) or Bank of America? Does he consider these the SAFE ones?

[brewer12345]

Stick below the FDIC limits and you should be OK unless the feddle gummint goes bust (in which case we all have bigger problems than which banks are iffy). If you want a place or two to chase yield, you could do worse than ING. An alternative that I think is decent is www.capitalsourcebank.com They appear to have a very strong balance sheet and pay decent yields, but I am a shareholder so probably have some bias. Otherwise you could stick with the very biggest banks under the premise that their demise really would be so catastrophic that the gummint wouldn't let it happen.

[Gone4Good]

Saw a sign today at WaMu offering CDs for 4.25% (1 yr, I think). As long as you stick below the FDIC cap, it seems like you're getting 1 yr government money at +300bp or so.

[capjak]

Bankrate.com -- Safe & Sound (tm): Bankrate's free rating system for banks, thrifts, credit unions Look up your bank on this site.

[REWahoo]

Right now the best bank to put your money in is a Credit Union.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower Want2retire posted a nice article about 1,000 regional banks possibly closing, but I cannot get the link to work.

I am sorry that the link didn't work for you! It works for me. Here is the thread you started on 1,000 banks closing. Would you like for me to combine that thread and this one?

When you first mentioned 1,000 banks closing in your post beginning your thread about 1,000 banks closing, but did not have a link, I wondered where you got that idea. I did a search and finally found that link from CNBC related to what you were saying. That is the "nice article" as you so kindly described it. I don't normally watch CNBC or read their articles, personally, as I consider them to be an entertainment channel, not a source of financial information.

The article wasn't really based on any analysis - - just on what one CEO (Wilbur Ross) thinks. Typical CNBC. My question of him would start with, "Where is your basis for making that statement? Where is your proof? Where did you get the number "1,000" from?" I thought it was somewhat alarmist.

Naturally we should keep an eye on every part of our financial system right now, including banks, brokerages, and all the rest. It seems to me that if a lot of banks fail, as a result we are going to have to pay more taxes to raise the funds available to the FDIC.

As Brewer says, stay below the FDIC limits and you will be fine. Well, except for the extra taxes we will all be paying!