I used to know a guy who kept his money hidden in his home because he didn’t trust banks. Like, all of it. He would never tell me where, obviously, guess though I may (Freezer? Under the mattress? Behind the “secret” DVD collection?). He isn’t alone — there are 10 million American households that don’t have bank accounts, a number that is increasing every day. [More]
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Wells Fargo Fires Customer Service Rep For Using Cardboard Dime At Laundromat 50 Years Ago
By 8.31.12
Big banks are under a lot of pressure these days not to mess anything up — but in the case of firing employees for crimes they committed decades ago, are they overreacting? A Wells Fargo customer service worker says his recent termination stemming from an incident in 1963 is totally unnecessary. His crime? Using a cardboard cutout of a dime in a Laundromat washing machine. [More]
U.S. Banks Are Doing Okay, Made $34.5 Billion Profit Last Quarter
By 8.28.12
While the big banks plead hardship and whine about having their profits eroded by regulatory reform, they fail to mention that the American banking industry appears to be doing okay, with 12 straight quarters of year-over-year growth and $34.5 billion in profit in the second quarter of 2012 alone. [More]
FDIC: There Is No Such Thing As An “FDIC Fee” To Bank Customers
By 7.10.12
Odds are that your bank is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and that your bank pays a premium to the FDIC for said insurance. And while those banks may choose to pass that cost on to customers, they can’t go calling it something like an “FDIC fee.” [More]
FDIC Announces Plan For How To Handle Failed Banks
By 5.10.12
Nearly four years on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and a number of other large financial institutions, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is announcing its plan for what will happen the next time a too-big-to-fail bank goes kaput. [More]
Banks Must Produce Living Wills To Tell Regulators How To Liquidate Them
By 9.14.11
No one likes to imagine their own undoing, but that’s what the government has asked the largest American banks to do, mapping out liquidation plans in “living wills” that will help financial regulators pick apart their carcasses if they go under. The banks have until next year to submit their plans, which are mandated by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. [More]
3 More Banks Shut Down; That Makes 61 So Far This Year
By 8.1.11
Movie rental chains, book stores and newspapers aren’t the only businesses that are dying off. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) announced three banks have been shut down, making 61 closures so far this year. Bank closures are still far behind the pace of 2010, when 157 banks were shuttered. [More]
FDIC Sues Former WaMu Execs & Their Wives Over Risky Loans And Hidden Money
By 3.17.11
They say that behind every great man there is a woman who will eventually be his co-defendant when he is sued by the FDIC for his part in the largest bank failure in U.S. history. [More]
List Of Sick Banks Rise To 17-Year High. Is Yours On It?
By 11.24.10
The number of banks on the FDIC’s “in danger of failing” list grew to 860 in July-September, a 17-year high. That number is up from 829 the previous quarter. The list is secret but even if your bank was on it, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to fail, only that it might. So what’s a good way to give your bank a checkup? [More]
FDIC Seizes 4 More Banks
By 11.9.10
The FDIC seized four more banks on Friday. That brings the total number for 2010 to 143, the most in a year since the S&L fiasco back in the 80’s. Here’s who went down: [More]
FDIC Says Pilot Program Offers Alternative to Payday Loans
By 6.25.10
The FDIC has announced the results of a two-year pilot program designed to help banks offer alternatives to payday loans that would be “safe, affordable and feasible.” Under the test program, participating banks offered loans of up to $2,500 at maximum interest rates of 36% — instead of the 400% offered by some payday lenders. [More]
Obama To Bankers: Remember When Creating The FDIC Was Going To Ruin The Economy?
By 4.22.10
During the President’s address to Wall Street bankers today in New York City, he reminded them that their predecessors had completely flipped out about a bill that passed through Congress way back in 1933. It was, in their view, sure to “not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U.S. banking to its lowest level.” What was this reform bill? [More]
How To Find A Good Local Bank
By 4.12.10
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. [More]
FDIC: This "Troubled Bank" List Is Getting Ridiculous
By 2.23.10
The Federal Insurance Deposit Corporation announced today that it had added 450 more banks to its troubled bank list. The list is secret, because announcing that a bank is in trouble is a good way to kill it for good. [More]
Is Bank Of America Of Trying To Skirt The CARD Act With New Annual Fees?
By 11.10.09
In a series of recent posts, WalletBlog has accused Bank of America of breaking the spirit of its “no new fees” promise and of potentially breaking the law next year, after it announced it will introduce annual fees on some existing credit card accounts in 2010.
The FDIC Would Like You To Know That They're Not Emailing You
By 10.28.09
An email claiming to be from the FDIC is making the rounds on the internet. It supposedly contains a “personal FDIC insurance file” that is really some sort of badness that will ruin your day. Do not click.
FDIC May Ask Banks For Bailout
By 9.22.09
Due to the record number of bank failures this year, the FDIC is low on funds. Instead of borrowing from the Treasury as they did in the early ’90s savings and loan crisis, regulators have a new idea: asking banks for a bailout.
FDIC Low On Funds After Record Bank Failures In 2009
By 8.29.09
Given how many banks have failed and been taken over by the FDIC this year (84, including three yesterday), it’s not one bit surprising that the FDIC isn’t doing too well, funds-wise. It’s down to $22 billion, the lowest the failed bank fund has been since the savings and loan crisis of the early ’90s, when it needed to borrow money from the Treasury Department to keep going.
