Bankaholic reader Doug M. emailed me to tip me off on a white-hot 4.60% APY 18-month CD at Downey Savings.
After doing some research on this bank, there are some reasons that this bank may be in trouble.

Banks that offer unusually high deposit rates are desperate for cash.
Downey Financial (NYSE:DSL) stock is tanking. Smart [...]

I noticed that Emigrant Direct has quietly spun off a purely online bank by the name of DollarSavingsDirect.
Interestingly, DollarSavingsDirect is running a 3.75% APY online savings account ($1000 minimum) while Emigrant is offering 3.00% (no minimum).
Anyone have an idea on why Emigrant is doing this? Why are they offering different rates? and what’s their business [...]

These are scary times for the banking industry. A small bank in Florida by the name of First Priority Bank has been shut down by the FDIC.
First Priority Bank with six branches on Florida’s Gulf Coast was closed by state regulators, becoming the eighth US bank to collapse this year amid failed loans [...]

Although optimists may argue that the worst of the credit crunch is behind us, I believe that there are still stormy seas ahead. Even JP Morgan’s own CEO, Jamie Dimon, states:
“Our expectation is for the economic environment to continue to be weak–and to likely get weaker–and for the capital markets to remain under [...]

*** UPDATE (7/18/08) ***
$100 Gas Card Winners
1) Rose Anwar (San Francisco, CA)
2) tomfox (Chicago, IL)
3) Al (Daly City, CA)
4) Goddess in the Groove (Sacramento, CA)
5) Jackie (Eastlake, OH)
SmartyPig $100 Gift Card Winner
1) Gloria (Alhambra, CA)
The winners have been selected and will be contacted by email. Runners up will be selected at random if [...]

This is Friday’s movie of the day. I’ve posted this clip in the past, but it’s important for everyone to learn how the Federal Reserve is robbing the public.
Watch all five parts of the movie. The first one is playing below.

Read on for clip #2.

This is an open thread for all of us to discuss the soundness of banks. Please vote and leave a comment to justify your vote. This poll is worthless without your thoughts! If you don’t see your bank listed, you can add it to the poll. n

Which Bank Will Go Bust Next?

Washington Mutual

Wachovia

Wells Fargo

Bank of [...]

Last week, Senator Schumer of NY issued a letter to federal banking regulators warning that there would be severe consequences to taxpayers if a large commercial bank like Indymac were to fail.
Senator’ Schumer’s letter created a bank run at Indymac’s branches; Indymac bank officials report droves of customers making withdrawals during the weekend. An [...]

Jim Bruene over at Netbanker has released the March 2008 online banking statistics.
Some interesting observations:

Many people are tapping into their home equity for $$. This could be a signal that people are strapped for cash.
Credit card applications have soared since February. Jim Bruene points out that conversion (the percentage of applicants who are approved) has [...]