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How to Save Yourself from the Horror of Your Bank Going Bankrupt

Imagine waking up on a sunny Saturday morning to find you can't use your debit card to buy groceries or pay for gas any longer? You can't withdraw a single dollar from the ATM. And your bank froze your credit cards.

Then you discover that every check you wrote in the past week has bounced. And, you receive a call saying that your retirement assets are frozen. The kicker is that you had over US$1 million dollars in your account.

You try to call your bank for answers, but they won't help you.

I know this story sounds like something pulled right out of the Great Depression. But, I've got news for you...this story is very real. It all happened last month to a US$2.1 BILLION bank in a little community in Bentonville, Arkansas.

How a Bank "Suddenly" Goes Under in the 21st Century

It was a very organized attack. On May 9th, the accountants snuck in the back door that Friday night after 5:00pm once the bank's doors had closed. Little did anyone know the doors were closing for good...And under the cover of darkness, over a hundred FDIC accountants began to systematically dismantle ANB financial headquarters - the venerable US$2.1 Billion institution that had been in business just hours before.

In short, FDIC officials were there to pick up the pieces because ANB was about to become the third bank to FAIL here in the United States in just the last six months. The fourth-largest bank in Arkansas was about to become yet another sub-prime casualty that choked on their own bad loans and investments.

The unlucky customers of ANB received nothing more than a letter that stated nothing of the bank failure, but rather introduced the "new" bank - Pulaski Bank.
Yet, I am sure most customers figured out their bank had gone south long before the formal letter arrived. As of 5:01 PM on May 9th, every single account at ANB was frozen. Money market accounts to trust assets to basic checking accounts.

What FDIC Insurance Really Means If Your Bank Goes Under

When you hear your account is "FDIC insured," do you really know what it means? In short, it means the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will reimburse you for up to US$100,000 for any one account you hold in your name.

If you have a joint account, then both account holders are insured up to US$100,000. You also can secure US$100,000 for each beneficiary in certain accounts (payable on death). (For full FDIC rules see http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/insured/yid.pdf)

Does this insurance help? Absolutely. But when you have an account worth more than US$100,000...well, that's how you can lose money if your bank goes under. Also, these days most respectable businesses make well over US$100,000 a year, so that limit is fairly easy to reach. And when accountants poured over ANB's books, they discovered 647 accounts that exceeded that limit. That equaled US$39.2 million in uninsured funds.

FDIC representatives, who I believe must hate their jobs on a regular basis, had to call these unfortunate account holders and tell them what they lost. One ANB client lost US$1.4 million. Overnight. With no warning. And as for the rest...well historically, uninsured deposits recoup 65 cents on the dollar. Plus, it can take YEARS to get your money back. But, the bills don't stop coming into your house.

A shocked ANB client said, "It's like [your money] doesn't belong to you anymore...it's theirs."


Make Sure this Doesn't Happen to You

As I've said before, you can protect yourself from such massive faults, but only if you know how. And one of the easiest ways to do that is to spread out your wealth across several accounts - just in case a bank goes insolvent like ANB did.

Here are a few other suggestions about how to protect yourself from the next banking calamity:

1. Check out your bank's credit rating. Check out the collateral backing up the loan. In the case of banks, you can do this by getting regular credit reports on any U.S. bank from Veribanc. They check your credit, why not check theirs?

2. Understand the rules, so you know what you're getting into. You can check out FDIC rules to find out what types of accounts are covered and how much. Click here for the rules (http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/insured/yid.pdf)

3. Above all, keep in mind that bank deposits are loans in a currency. Right now, U.S. banks are paying less than the inflation rate for deposits, and the interest is taxable. So depositors are losing purchasing power, and if price inflation heats up, which it will, the losses could be substantial.

4. Diversify, diversify, diversify...between banks, between currencies, between countries, and between assets (loans, equities, tangibles).

Above all, look at a bank deposit for what it is, A LOAN TO THE BANK! Treat the banker like you would treat anyone who asks you for a loan. You want to know whether the borrower will be able to repay you if he gets into trouble.

You never want to wake up one day and find yourself without a bank. But if it happens, a few precautions can help you protect what's yours.

Thanks

Gary Gray
Tax & Financial Consultant, RFC
G&G Associates
877-817-6031 toll-free
866-361-3872 toll free fax
www.gngassociates.net

"Those who do not learn the lessons of history indeed are condemned to relive them."

LEGAL NOTICE: This work is based on SEC filings, current events, interviews, corporate press releases and what I've learned as a financial consultant. It may contain errors and you shouldn't make any investment decision based solely on what you read here. It's your money and your responsibility. G&G Associates expressly forbids from having a financial interest in any security that is recommended to our subscribers