My bank is and has always been ...... solvent. No TARP money.

[Stinky The Clown]

They have a sign to that effect on the front door and in the lobby. They're a local bank. The name of the bank is the name of the next town over. They're so community oriented that we once tried to do a money transfer to someone in France when the franc was still the currency there. They asked if we could, maybe, uh ..... go across the street to BIG BANK and see if they could help us. BIG BANK told us to get fucked. We went back to our bank, who called their branch manager and asked if they would please extend a professional courtesy and handle the transaction. BIG BANK did. And they were actually nice about it.

Our bank makes and holds its own mortgages. It has not made any sub prime loans. Not even one. They currently have ..... wait for it ....... no foreclosures. We have a modest 6 month CD there. It is still paying a few points. It is due to roll over again next month. We'll probably leave it there.

They also sell mutual funds and all that crap all the BIG BANKS do. But they actually run those deals through some other company. And they make that real clear. They just take a commission on the deal. We never bought from them and they never suggested we do. Its funny. It is as if t hey really don't want to sell that stuff ..... but feel obligated to do so.

The branch we go to - in a strip center - is their world headquarters. Hahahaha. It is a two story building. The board room, the Operations Center, the IT department, everything else. It is all up there. On the second floor.

We go in our branch and they :gasp: know our names.

I was musing about this as I was listening to the ongoing financial nooz. Hearing the talking heads talk. Hearing that the BIG BANKS are saying 'fuck you' to us when we ask about ...... uh ..... you know ...... that tax money we gave 'em.

I wish we could go back twenty or forty years and have a do-over.

[NMDemDist2]

1. same at our credit union

:hi:

[Muttocracy]

2. same in my area - a local bank just built a big new building where Bank of America closed

:)

It's all local or small-regional banks around here and they all seem to be doing fine. They were all pretty conservative about not getting into the subprime mess, and they're doing OK. It's helped keep the local real estate market more stable than most.