Wells Fargo, US Bank, Bank of America and Citibank are on the Brink of Bankruptcy

We’ve known for a while that some of the major financial institutions in the United States are in serious trouble. We saw several government-engineered buyouts of some banks at the tail end of last year and other financial firms simply failed. Many thought the 700 billion worth of “TARP” funds would be enough to shore up America’s financial institutions, but it appears that there’s another round of major financial institutions that are in serious trouble.

Barron’s has recently released a report about the financial status of America’s 13 largest banks and have found that seven of them are in seriously in trouble and are insolvent for all intensive purposes. Barron’s stated that out of all of the banks that were studied, Citibank was the one in the most trouble. This isn’t much of a surprise considering all of the bailout money the bank has taken in the last 6 months. After Citibank, Bank of America was the second most troubled bank.

The other five banks that were in serious trouble included Wells Fargo, which was bragging to its customers about how financially stable they were just a few months ago. PNC, JP Morgan Chase, US Bank Corp and the Bank of New York were also on the list of the banks that are facing serious financial trouble.

The six financial institutions that were considered relatively health included BB&T, Capital One, Comerica, KeyCorp Marshall & Isley and Sun Trust. Barron’s reported that these banks are all have sufficient amounts of capital for the time being.

If you have money in one of the seven banks that Barron’s has listed as “in trouble”, you don’t need to worry immediately. Remember that the first $250,000 of your money in any checking or savings account is insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC), throughout the rest of 2009. In 2010 and beyond that number drops back down to $100,000. If you have any more money than that into one single bank, you should immediately take any money over $250,000 in a bank and move it to another financial institution.

Customers of these troubled banks should also take notice that the customer service provided by their banks will likely take a nosedive as often happens with banks that are not faring well. If you are a small business owner and frequently need to make use of a bank’s services in any other means than a cookie-cutter fashion, you might want move your funds to a small-town community bank or a credit union that can provide you better customer service.

If you’re searching for the best savings account rates you should look at some of the smaller banks and credit unions for good bank deals. Often times a smaller internet bank will run a good promotion in order to gain more customers. Keep an eye out for good online promotions for savings accounts.