America’s Best & Worst Banks For 2010

There is a classic saying that bad ages to live through are good ages to learn from. By all accounts, today’s times constitute a bad age for banking and financial companies, and the experiences many Americans have with them. However, nothing is easier than complaining. Far more useful and instructive is examining how various banks are being run and extrapolating the behaviors of these institutions. In short, what sets good banks apart from bad banks? Why are some continuing to thrive while others (even frighteningly similar competitors, in some cases) are spinning their wheels? Today, BillShrink sets about answering these questions with profiles of the six best and six worst banks in America for 2010.

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The Great Collapse of the American Financial System

Bailout has become the dirty financial word of the millennium. Hundreds of banks received a helping hand from the government, though many still failed and still more are teetering on the brink of failure. Here’s a breakdown of the nearly $11 trillion in bailouts that seemed to help so few. Have a look at where all that money went with our graphic look at the great collapse of the American financial system.

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12 Ways Financial Institutions Screw You Over

Nothing gets a group of people talking like a good “bank screwed me over” story. Dissatisfaction with banks, credit card issuers and stock brokers is so widespread that entire forums are bursting with complaints and horror stories to which most of us can personally relate. While it’s unlikely that any of these companies will listen, we thought it’d be useful to gather the most common (and sneaky) ways financial institutions screw people over into one place so you can keep an eye on your money.
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How Banks Snatch Almost $2 Billion From Us Yearly

Many consumers have had the unpleasant experience of overdrawing their bank account.  By delaying deposits and funds transfers for reasons unknown and offering up confusing and contradictory figures for available balance, it sometimes seems as though the bank wants to catch you with insufficient funds. With hefty charges attached to each micro-loan the bank gladly offers, you are left wondering why these overdraft programs are so mysterious, and how you got into them in the first place. This chart sheds some light on the incredibly profitable bank practice of offering automatic overdraft “protection.”

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