How safe if your bank? Find out here...

[CoffeeCat]

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/safesound/ss_home.asp

From the site:
"Bankrate.com's Safe & Sound® service is a proprietary system designed to provide information on the relative financial strength and stability of U.S. commercial banks, savings institutions and credit unions. The system employs a series of twenty-two tests to measure the capital adequacy, asset quality, profitability, and liquidity (CAEL) of each rated financial institution."

Bob Brinker, radio-talk-show-host and financial guru recommends the site and he's top notch.

Also, please take note of Bankrate's rating system:

--There are two ratings for each bank. A "star rating" and a "CAEL Safe and Sound Rating."
--Banks are given 1-5 stars. FIVE stars is the highest rating; ONE is the lowest rating.
--The "CAEL Safe and Sound Rating" also rates from 1-5. ONE is the highest rating; FIVE is the lowest rating.

After you find your bank's rating---be sure to look to the middle of the page where it says "Memorandum." Click
"next." There is a wealth of information about your bank at that link.

Note: Searching by bank name, rather than by state or town, is better. I couldn't find my bank listed by my town--because
the bank's corporate headquarters was only listed, which is not in my town . I finally found the bank doing the name search.

[hobbit709]

1. Our credit union is 3 and 3

Our old bank is 1 and 5

[Alexander]

2. My credit union is 4 and 2. Not bad.

[hlthe2b]

4. All the credit unions in my region appear to be 4 and 2

As I would have expected.... I gave up banks a long time ago...

[ronnykmarshall]

3. Cool ..

My bank got a four star rating and a 2 on the CAEL.

[Mojambo]

5. I got 3 and 3.

Apparently my credit union is a solid C student.

I'll take it.

[youthere]

6. That 's reassuring....

Our bank is a 4 star with a 2 CAEL. Thanks for posting this.

[Debi]

7. Oh - the bank our business uses is 4/2

our personal locally owned bank is 1/5 :scared:

[CoffeeCat]

14. Hi Debi...

How are you?

We're dealing with a similar situation. Our locally owned bank is a 2/4. We're concerned.

We stopped into the bank on Saturday, and we happened to see a vice president there. We
asked her about the bankrate rating and she had never even heard of the Website. She tried
to reassure us and tell us that the bank has "great capitalization" and is very healthy.

I am leaning to pulling our money out.

After reading the detailed comments about our bank, I feel comfortable with that decision, even
though it will be a bit awkward going in and closing the accounts.

Did you read the comments about your bank on the bankrate site? I couldn't believe the amount
of detailed information that was written about our bank--fully explained why we got a low rating.

Good luck!

[Debi]

24. We knew before I saw the rating - it's been that way for a while

We only use the bank for our personal checking account to pay bills once a month - money goes in checks get written money goes out. If the bank 'fails' we wouldn't lose much. We opened the account to show our 'community spirit' so really don't want to close our account. While the bank has remained open the other (larger - commercially owned) banks have all changed hands and names more than once. Our little community owned bank seems to be the only constant. It would be a bummer to lose it.

[ColbertWatcher]

8. Kick and rec for good information. n/t

[dkofos]

9. My credit union gets a shitty rating from these clowns.

But they get an A++ from their members.

[LonePirate]

10. My bank is on solid ground - 5 and 1

That's definitely a sign of relief for me tonight. Thanks for the link!

[Xenotime]

16. What bank are you using?!? Any advice would be helpful...

[ContinentalOp]

11. My CU has 3&3. I guess that's OK?

:shrug: I was hoping it would be better.

[ContinentalOp]

12. Is this good? The liquidity part is good right?

CAEL Composite Rating 3 43.68

Predictive Indicator + (improve)

Earnings Rating 3 55.22

Asset Quality Rating 3 52.72

Capital Rating 3 44.91

Liquidity Rating 1 22.89

Institution Asset Size 700.6331 million
Deposits 629.2110 million
Loans 436.0418 million
Equity 68.4251 million
Net Profit/Loss 2.0234 million

[Lisa0825]

13. My credit Union and bank are both 4 stars and 2 CEAL

My mortgage bank is 5 stars and a CAEL 1.

[TooRaLoo]

15. 4 and 2. That's good. nt

[1awake]

17. Mines 5-1

5 stars and a CAEL rating of 1.

[progressoid]

18. Thanks, I was just thinking about looking for something like this today.

[Dudley_DUright]

19. Mine done got eated today

:-(

[Iggo]

20. BofA....4 and 2.

And yet I don't feel any better...lol.

[and-justice-for-all]

21. Its a 4 - 2

[On the Road]

22. Thank You --

I wanted to check Signal Credit Union, but didn't know where to look. They seem to be solid.

[galileoreloaded]

23. Site is trash, and has been for a while....Wachovia got a 3-3, been in the shits for months....

n/t