MAIN Your Money Banking

Recent headlines have given many banks a bad name.

Runaway investments and shady practices (notably resulting in the downfall of the housing market), have painted some financial institutions as either 21st century robber barons or simply inept.

Consumers, meanwhile, are on the march, with a recent trend toward transferring money into local banks and credit unions.

The move hopefully will prove beneficial for the entire industry, as banks compete once again for customers' hard-earned cash.

Not surprisingly, all banks are (gasp!) in it for the money. So it's the wise consumer who knows how to use financial institutions to their own personal advantage. That is, by shopping around for the best deals on savings accounts, personal loans, and credit cards.

Just up ahead, check out how to find neighborhood banks, credit unions, and secure online banking, together with tips on using checking accounts and bank credit cards, and charts you can use to calculate current bank rates, fees and interest charges...

More about personal banking around the Web:

CNN/Money Banking & Borrowing - Feature story articles, banking essentials, interactive rate calculator for credit cards, checking, mortgages and more.

Bankrate.com - Excellent layout and deep content including daily bank rates on CDs, personal loans and mortgages. Also check out Frugal U. for related tips and tricks.

Consumer Action - Take your pick of hundreds of banking and financial services publications with sound advice on secure banking, how to avoid overdraft fees and related tips.

Truthful Lending.com - Check for the latest posts on consumer protection, bank scams, personal finance tips including mortgages, savings accounts, loans and credit cards, and online banking.

Move Your Money - A natural reaction to the big banking scandal with tips & information on how to move your bank accounts to local neighborhood institutions and credit unions, with related headlines, resources.

Find a Better Bank.com - Search by zip code in all 50 states for comparisons of local community banks and credit unions by customer service ratings, fees and other variables.

ATM Locator - Find an automatic teller machine anywhere in the world.

also see --> How to Recover from a Bad Credit Rating

Making Sure Payments Get Credited On Time

also see --> Household Budgeting | Insurance | Retirement

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