For good reason, the FDIC protects the identity of banks on its watch list to avoid a run on the ones at risk. But there are other sources. You can check on the financial stability of your bank by going to www.veribanc.com or www.bankrate.com for their safety ratings.

Also, in the past we have called the FDIC Consumer Hotline at 877-275-3342 with queries and talked with some very helpful pros there.

And finally, if you really want to dive into the "numbers" of your bank, you can check out 10K, 10Q and 8K filings. These documents are required of publicly held corporations, and they disclose the company's business and financial information or announce major events that impact earnings and operations.

You can read them free in the EDGAR database at the Securities and Exchange Commission site (www.sec.gov). Simply click here to go right to the page where you can enter the name of your banking institution.

What To Do If You Spot Trouble

We talked quite a bit about how to protect your money in this current crisis. Be sure to read our other articles on Dolans.com to make sure you do everything possible to not lose one penny:

• What To Do if Your Bank Fails
• How to Protect Your Bank Deposits
• Is Your Bank Safe?

The bottom line? Make sure your deposits are FDIC insured. (It's hard to believe that, at the end of the first quarter of this year, more than $7 trillion was sitting in banks uninsured!) First of all, DON'T PANIC…IF you're deposits are within the FDIC-insured limits you have little, if anything, to worry about. Statistically, the chance of the FDIC taking over your bank is remote.

Another source you might find helpful is the FDIC's Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE), an interactive application that will help you learn about deposit insurance. It allows you to calculate the insurance coverage of your accounts at each FDIC-insured bank. Click here to visit the EDIE page.

Please take steps today to make sure you money is properly insured. You don't want to wait another minute!

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