I am very familiar with the banking industry. I am also not stupid. There are countless local banks that are financially sound...and they can be checked out. They provide the competition to the mega-banks.....and they also provide much better service in many ways.
You can actually knock on a glass panel, wave and talk personally to the president or senior veep of the institution.
I feel more secure with my prosperous, small, conservative local bank than I did last week when I was banking with BOA.
It's not necessary to be pessimistic and distrusting of ALL local banks. Anecdotal evidence of a relatively minor national percentage of local banks being unresponsive to customers, greedy and going belly-up does not a whole industry make.
I like to keep the money in the community, also.
Leni
I was told very early in my banking career that “in the end there will be five BIG banks, and then your very, small local banks. The small banks will be fine to do your personal checking, but they could not provide the services that many businesses need.”
That was fifteen years ago, and I see it happening.