How To Find A Good Local Bank
So you’re tired of banking at one of the big, faceless national chains and want to keep your money local? You can try one of the recent sites devoted to the local bank movement, like anewwayforward.org or moveyourmoney.info, or you can follow this Kiplinger columnist’s lead and do it yourself with a little online research.
Robert Long writes that after his current local bank was acquired, he decided to switch banks. He started by searching the Independent Community Bankers of America’s website for a listing of local banks, and then searched the Credit Union National Association for local credit unions.
www.icba.org
www.creditunion.coop
Armed with a list of prospects, he then used the FDIC’s Bank Find tool to make sure deposits are FDIC-insured. After that, he checked BankRate.com’s scores of each institution to figure out how financially stable each one really was.
It’s probably more work than one of the two sites listed in the first paragraph, but you’ll arguably learn more about what’s available in your area, and be able to make an educated decision on whether to switch banks.
“How to Find a Local Bank” [Kiplinger]
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