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<p>If the bank and account are FDIC assured and you have less than 100k in that account, if the bank goes under you will get your money the next business day. There is nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>I’ve always heard Hudson City Savings Bank is probably the best run bank in the country. Even Jim Cramer said it recently so it HAS to be true!</p>
<p>If you’re looking for a new bank, you might want to look at one of the U.S. banks that is owned by a Canadian bank. There are five major banks in Canada and only a handful (literally) of small ones. The banking system here is not a mish-mash of thousands of small banks like it is in the U.S. The big five here are not facing the problems that even some of the large ones in the U.S. are currently.</p>
<p>Focus on proper account structure. The important element is structure for non-corporate accounts. A family of 4 can get over $1 million in FDIC insurance at one bank if structured properly. Speak to the operations officer and not a teller. Ask them about POD (payable on death) accounts. </p>
<p>When a bank fails, and your are properly insured with FDIC insurance, you have no worries.</p>
<p>“Is it hyperbole to suggest that this feels a lot like 1929 (not that I was there, of course).”</p>
<p>If it weren’t for the FDIC it would feel like 1929. Remember, there was no FDIC before the Great Depression, that’s how so many people lost everything.</p>
<p>Hudson City is a great bank. They had my first mortgage</p>
<p>National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia have one-year term deposits over 8%. One of them is paying 8.2%; not sure about the other. Their Federal interest rate went to 7.25% several months ago.</p>
<p>Re post #12…I remember a bank closing in Ohio in the mid 80’s and folks who had accounts there lost their $$ and they were still liable for their mortgages through the bank…they could not pay the bank with their own $$…probably the loans had been sold, or it could be that the loans were considered assets of the bank, and the deposits were up in smoke! So, do not count on being off the hook for debts to the institutions who hold your $$$$…it may not work that way. Of course, this was 20 years ago, and some rules may have changed since then.</p>
<p>If it was Ohio in the mid 80s, those were savings and loans which weren’t FDIC insured, but were insured by the state. Some of those saving banks never reopened, although all depositors “eventually” received back their money. Oftimes, the money came from the state, which took its time paying. If IndyMac is any indication, the FDIC was ready to issue checks the next day to depositors who wanted their money out.</p>
<p>Alwaysamom’s suggestion is a terrific one; FinTRAC - the Canadian equivalent of FinCEN here - just issued their rules regarding money laundering, etc. In addition, I recommend at least glancing at The Financial Times once a day, just to see if there is anything amiss. But the major, large institutions are very “safe”, especially for balances < $100,000 which are of course FDIC covered. Mxjeff has it right - structure your accounts properly.</p>
<p>This is probably too paranoid, but does anyone worry that the FDIC itself might not be so secure given our national debt and growing deficit? </p>
<p>[MarketBeat</a> : FDIC Mythbusters](<a href=“http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2007/11/12/fdic-mythbusters/]MarketBeat”>http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2007/11/12/fdic-mythbusters/)</p>