Even in the face of a bank failure, investors have some protections. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) guarantees deposits at federally insured banks while the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) covers deposits at credit unions.

Another measure of bank safety is the financial strength of your bank. There are several entities that measure the safety and financial strength of various banks.

If you want to find out if your bank is safe, and to learn more about the FDIC and NCUA, these websites can help.

Government Agencies

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

www.fdic.gov

The FDIC’s website offers information about deposit insurance, a list of insured banks, articles, FAQs, consumer reports and more. The Deposit Insurance section helps you determine if your bank funds are federally insured; the BankFind tool lets you search for insured banks, view branch locations, find merger and acquisition information, and learn about your bank’s history; another tool called EDIE helps you estimate the coverage of your deposits. You can also see which types of investments are not covered and learn about international deposit insurance. The regularly updated Analysis section provides bank data and statistics, research and analysis on national banking trends and information on failed banks. You can also call the FDIC help desk (877-275-3342) if you have questions not answered on the site.

National Credit Union Administration

www.ncua.gov

The NCUA is the equivalent of the FDIC for credit unions. Their site provides information about NCUA insurance policies (which mirror the FDIC). You can also read about the NCUA’s insurance coverage rules and regulations. The Consumers area includes a search tool that lets you find credit unions by state. Each credit union listed includes a detailed data page with contact information. The Share Insurance area includes a tool to determine if your credit union is covered by federal insurance as well as a tool that estimates your total coverage amount.

Bank Ratings

Bankrate.com

www.bankrate.com

Bankrate.com provides a wealth of data on bank-related products. The site is updated regularly with interest rate data as well as editorial and educational content. Star ratings for U.S. banks and credit unions are based on relative financial strength and stability, where one star denotes the lowest rating and five stars indicate a superior rating. Bankrate.com also reviews each institution, giving a checklist of pros and cons. 

BauerFinancial Inc.

www.bauerfinancial.com

BauerFinancial analyzes banks and credit unions using a star rating. To find star ratings for specific banks, you can search by state and bank name. You will be shown the star rating and find links to various reports. The star ratings are based on capital ratio, profitability and loss trends, level of delinquent loans, market versus book value of investment portfolios and more. A highlights report costs $18, a summary report costs $28, an analytical report is $48 and the Llamas Report (which combines the analytical and summary report with additional analysis) costs $62.

Weiss Ratings

https://weissratings.com/

Weiss Ratings publishes financial-strength ratings on over 8,000 banking institutions on a quarterly basis. Criteria are based on adequate capital and earnings and the quality of the institution’s assets. Rating are A-excellent, B-good, C-fair, D-weak and E-very weak. Clicking the bank name from the results list brings up a link for a one-page report discussing the bank’s overall rating and ratings of more specific factors like capitalization, asset quality, liquidity, profitability and stability.