Bank failure

I've been following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank with great concern. Not because we have any money in that bank, but because it may trigger a cascade of other bank failures.

Do any of you have an account with SVB? If so, let us know what's going on!

Bank stability?

We have bank accounts with two separate banks (well, one bank and one credit union).

A couple of years ago, I had errands to run in Spokane, WA. One of those errands was to make a deposit at our bank, of which Spokane has three branches.

Except the branch I normally used had closed. Hmmm. It's inconvenient to drive to one or the other distantly-flung branches, but that's what I have to do now when I'm in Spokane.

This morning, Don had errands to run in Coeur d'Alene. One of those errands was to cash a check at one of the Cd'A branches of this same bank. He just called to inform me that the branch was closed.

Double hmmmm.

I confess it left me concerned about the stability of this particular bank. We've kept our account at this bank because they handle our merchant services account for our business very well, and in all respects we've been satisfied with their service.

But branches closing makes me nervous. I guess we'll be using our credit union more.

Anyone else experiencing stuff like this?

Counter opinion

In response to my observations on banks, a reader posted an interesting counter-opinion. I wanted to post this separately so it wouldn't get buried.
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I think it's irresponsible to suggest that someone pull their money out of a bank if your deposits are below the FDIC insured amount. Pulling your money out can send the bank into a tailspin and insure its failure. You don't lose any money if your deposits are below the insured amount.

Local banks support local communities and should have your support. BoA, Citi and the larger banks aren't really involved in the local community and shouldn't be your first choice *if* you want to support your local community.

I do not agree with all of the jumping up and down and scaremongering that Rawles and others push... this type of unfounded, baseless fear should be ignored. Take a look at the links that are posted on SurvivalBlog - are they from trusted, reliable sites like the Wall Street Journal or some less reputable source? Think about it... why is he peddling so much fear? I am not buying it.

Again, I would urge everyone to be strong and get involved in local communities to make them stronger. Get involved in the election process by supporting candidates you support to get this country back on track, living in fear is not the way I choose to live. I have chosen to be prepared but fear is NOT part of my equation, I am an American.

"As low as one thousand dollars"

A couple weeks ago I wrote a WorldNetDaily article called Tangible Investments in which I stated how we prefer to put any surplus cash into physical possessions rather than in the bank. I later learned this column had the highest readership of any WND column I'd ever written. It even got mentioned on SurvivalBlog, which I'm certain accounted for a lot of those numbers.

It seemed the column hit a chord. A lot of people -- not just us -- apparently have little faith in money and would rather put their earnings into something tangible (a Jersey heifer in our case) rather than stash it in the bank.

And now I find out that one of our banks is teetering on the edge of disaster. This article lists 171 banks "for which the margin of failure is one thousand dollars." One of those banks is ours.

"Below we present the 171 banks that had to access the Discount Window for the paltry sum of $1,000.00," states the article. "That's right -- these are the banks for whom the margin of failure is as low as one thousand dollars. Any readers who have cash deposited with these banks (many of whom have not yet been visited by the FDIC's Failure Friday phenomenon), are urged to immediately remove all funds and run, Forrest, run."

We've known for quite awhile that two of our three banks are in fragile shape, but I hadn't realized just how fragile that shape was. It confirms our notion that banks are not the place to put our money (except for what we need to pay business and household expenses). The rare times we have surplus cash, we're putting it into something tangible.

Yeah yeah, someone is doubtless asking about the FDIC. Our money is covered -- insured -- by the (cough) full faith and credit of the United States government. Right?

Right. Do you honestly think our measly account would be covered by a bankrupt FDIC if our bank should fail? Of course not. Or if it is, the paperwork would tie it up for so long that we might as well kiss any funds goodbye.

We won't be closing our account with this bank. It's local and convenient. But nor will we keep any but the barest of funds in it. Our economic situation is such that we can't afford to lose anything because a bank fails.