Ted K’s point was that anyone in those lines of work have had the credit union option for a long time and should have availed themselves of it. (Most did.) It was only recently that *everyone* had access to credit unions.

They are *VERY IGNORANT* conspiracy theorists.

Hearts in the right place perhaps, but brains? Not so much.

I’ve never met an employer who would refuse to mail you a paycheck which you could walk in and deposit where-ever you want.

“Then there’s the issue that if you go a month without direct deposit many checking accounts will charge you a fee, ”

Oh. Any bank that does that should not be patronized.

Most *good* banks and credit unions simply have minimum balances to avoid “account maintenance fees”. Save up that balance (cash will do nicely) and deposit it.

Big banks don’t have a monopoly on inefficiency. I’m just sayin’.

Instead, keep your checking and savings at the major bank, but pay off your loans and credit cards with them. This way you reduce their assets while leaving their liabilities intact.

The more subordinated debt the better so long as the banks basic capital of Stock and Paid in Capital is intact and not eaten into by negative ” surplus” accounts. Subordinated Debt is just that. Other creditors and depositors are senior to subordinated debt. There are a number of types of subordinated debt. A lot of this debt is also convertible to capital at special prices that make it attractive to investors. This same debt often is satisfiable at the option of the issuer in shares. There are all kinds of gradations of subordination. Here it is very important to understand the details of subordinated and other debt.

What is the nature of their “Cash Account”? Do they have any money of their own? If all they have is what is owed them from other depository institutions or in the process of collection, then caution is warranted. What if the Federal Reserve Board owes them money? It may be easier for the Fed to close this bank than pay the bank. Some banks don’t even have to report the detail of what is in their “Cash” account. How do you evaluate them?

Another example is their “Other Borrowed Finds” and “Subordinated Debt” accounts. When these balances are a significant part of their liabilities, their risk is increased and contributes to being over-loaned.

Are they buying or selling Fed funds? Many banks just borrow more to loan out thereby increasing their risk. The better banks instead have lent their money to the Feds.

It is very evident in some cases which banks have made adjustments since June 30, 2008. Rather than stick their head in the sand with business as usual, they have cleaned up their balance sheets and improved their capital positions.

It is not enough to just go pick out a local or community bank and hope for the best. As for credit unions, how are you going to evaluate them when there is no data available? I would agree with some bloggers if things had not changed. It used to be that they were private entities of a company or non-profit. Now anybody can join with a $100.00 deposit. I suspect they are also over-loaned and subject to too much risk.

If you are looking for a new bank and need help, then you need to visit http://www.soundusbanks.com/index.html. You know who you are.

what? have you heard of price discovery and capital allocation? what would the trackers track if everyone was a tracker? Investing in trackers an example of an individually rational act in the same vein as free-riding is a rational act in a public good setting. We need more active investment, not less.