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Strategies & Market Trends : The Ego Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amark$p who wrote (6957)	4/2/2010 11:03:15 AM
From: hubris33	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12175

Hi amarksp. Um, ah.... The ACH process isn't all that it's cracked up to be - believe me I have lots of personal experience. One would think that electronic transfers should be fast as easy, it isn't always the case. Shoot I've had ACH transfers take 5 to 6 BUSINESS days to clear the DTC system and get posted at the incoming institution. Then one has one's funds "put on hold" until the ACH actually settles or clears. The only sure way to get money to a bank on a "now" basis is a wire transaction. One thing that many don't recognize with ACH transfers is that ACH transfers can be canceled and thus the funds withdrawn from one's account, even after they have arrived. Been there, done that. Now as far as those bank ratings go....I did a little looking around at those ratings and very few hit the A grade, while many of the "stable" banks are rated lower. Shoot, Goldman Sachs only gets a B grade, and with as much net income and bonuses they generate, no way they are risky. JP Morgan Chase is only a C and they have been stable through the whole process. Then I saw an A+ rated bank in the area, so I looked them up. They are A+ rated because the only "risk" they take is to offer a secured credit card. One's credit limit on their Visa card is tied to how much money one has "on deposit" in a restricted [i.e. can't withdrawal any money] account. Further investigation of the A+ rated company showed many consumer complaints about not being able to get money, payments not processed timely and outrageous fees. Shoot their Zero Interest rate [0% APR] card only costs $9.95 per month! On a $500 balance that's a minuscule 23.88% per annum interest rate! So yeah - no default problems there! This this short investigation into that Street.com rating system has me scratching my head. Why do I need an A+ rated bank if the FDIC insures my deposits. [Yeah, on has to keep balances below $250,000]. It also confirms something I learned a while ago - it's better to grub around in the data and think for one's self rather than rely on someone else to think for me. So I resort to the original question: What specifically does one look at on a balance sheet to determine if a bank likely meets the criteria for being on the Fed's "failure imminent" watch list? H3