With the debacle of financial institutions grabbing the headlines of late, which banks or insurance institutions are in decent shape? I don't have WaMu but it kind of surprised me that they have been getting so much attention all of a sudden. Didn't anyone know much earlier they were on ice? So many in Silicon Valley use their services. I'm pretty green with finance. Do most of the popular banks boa/wf not rely so much on mortgage or real-estate investment loans while the others have? Educate me please. Thanks.

Over in the UK Lloyds have become a strong leader in the financial market, but it is tough to say at the moment. Problems are occuring every couple of days now and the sun looks like its setting right now, hopefully soon a resolution will come up. Just today the US government turned down the $700bn plan to help the market.

In answer to your question, I am very unstable in setting my mind on one financial insitution right now. Nationwide as a building society in the UK does very well an dhas proven to be safe for a very long time. Invest wisely I say.

wells fargo bank was rated one of the safest banks in the world and it is one of the only banks in the usa that appears in the list. they are also the only bank that reported a high amount of revenue last year when all others reported losses.

CitiBank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo are probably the biggest in America. Citi and Wells Fargo are fighting over Wachovia currently who was forced by the FDIC to sell due to threat of making the crisis worse with their toxic mortgages but has a really great deposits. So that will be a big plus for whoever gets them, plus they can be used as a tax credit. BoA just picked up Merrill Lynch a few weeks ago. Regardless, you are protected up to $100,000 at any FDIC insured bank and up to $100,000 for insured credit unions by NCUSIF. If you have a joint account, each person on the account is protect, so that would be $200,000 total. The limits might rise up to $250,000 per person shortly. Just be sure your Financial Institution is insured. Times are rough and the biggest banks will stay back by the government. Smaller more troubled banks may be forced to sell to other banks but the FDIC will make sure it's a smooth transaction and you probably would never even know unless you keep up with the news.

Credit Unions

Always a good choice as long as they are insured by NCUSIF. Kinda like an FDIC for credit unions. Credit unions often offer better loan rates as well. They may not have the best savings and/or checking interest rates though.

The new FDIC protection now covers up to $250k

I remember seeing on CNBC the other day a national figure in the Credit Union body indicating not one credit union was in trouble. Almost all of their lending is still done by committee and they never engaged in the stuff regular institutions did. Really though any FDIC bank is safe so long as you believe the full faith of the US is still intact. Check with your bank on the maximum insured limits.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't realize about the stability of the Credit Unions. That is good news. Yes, FDIC is 250K now. At least till the end of 2009 according to the FDIC site. So, most of the big banks BoA, Citi, WF are safe according to what i have also read. For CDs, Citi is offering 4% for 6 months which is one of the best rates i've found for banks. BoA has a CD now where you can withdraw or deposit throughout the 6 month duration. I will check out some Credit Unions.

UW Credit Union is a great financial in general and has one of the more sophisticated online banking systems. You do need to have physical or family ties to either a University of Wisconsin school, or live or work within 5-miles of a branch to qualify for membership. (can you tell that I work there?) Like most credit unions, we didn't speculate when it came to investing our members' funds, and now we can weather the storm better than the Wachovia/WaMus of the industry.

I think that any account under the new FDIC limit of 250k per depositor is safe now.