Florida Banks Failing?

By: DetectiveKrum

People receive credit scores to determine, by lenders, the person’s credit-worthiness. To keep my investigation easy to understand, I will lump a variety of financial organizations which include banks, credit unions, insurance companies and so forth, into one category for now, called lenders or banks. Technically, a credit union is not a bank, but a credit union. But for this report, I will call them all banks.

As I researched banks, in lieu of the current economic conditions in America, I was interested in bank failures. With IndyMac bank failing and watching many wait outside the bank in California, I wanted to know why IndyMac depositors were not aware of their bank failing in advance. If you know your bank is in a position to fail, what would you do about your deposits? FDIC - Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation provides depositors up to $ 100,000 insurance. But you might wait months to get your money from FDIC and you could loose your car or house by then. What if you could share with people, their bank’s rating in advance? What if you could show depositors, in advance, how strong or weak their bank is? People could make informed decisions and decide if they want to change banks or not.

This investigation looks at Florida. Why Florida? Because a lot of pension money, retirement accounts and life savings have been put into Florida banks as more and more retirees head south. Clearly, this list is not complete and if your bank is not on this list, email or comment and I will look into your bank’s stability.

Banks are generally rated by stars or letters. For stars, a five star rating is the best you can get and one star is the worst rating. For letters, A is the best and F the worst. The rule of thumb by most investors? I am using the letter rating system. A bank that is rated an A or B, this the best rating for a bank. This A or B means your bank has a green light for your account and everything should be just fine. A grade of C or D means yellow flags of caution should be going up to the depositor and they need to be prepared to make a quick move if necessary. A bank rated as an E or F means red flags should go up and you would be wise to remove your money out of that bank before it closes. Even with FDIC, it could take a long time to figure out deposits before you could see your money from FDIC.

The list below is listing Florida banks in the lower E and F grade. These banks may be in serious trouble and appear likely to close. If you are banking with these institutions, it might be wise to remove your deposits and find an A or B bank. If you have a loan with an E or F graded bank, keep making your payments on time. This list in no way reflects giving financial advice to anyone. Use this information as you research your bank’s solvency at your own risk. I am reporting what I see through documents supplied through FDIC and other sources.

This list of E and F graded banks is not conclusive and if you do not see your bank on this list and want to know where your bank stands, email or comment here.

(E+) - Commerce Bank of Ft. Myers, Florida

(E-) - Federal Trust Bank Sanford, Florida

(E) - First Florida Bank Naples, Florida

(E-) - First Priority Bank Bradenton, Florida

(E+) - Florida Community Bank Immokalee, Florida

(E-) - Freedom Bank Bradenton, Florida

(E) - Ocala National Bank Ocala, Florida

(D) - Alarion Bank of Ocala Ocala, Florida

(D) - American First Bank Clermont, Florida

(E-) Federal Trust Bank Sanford, Florida

(D) First Avenue National Bank Ocala, Florida

(D) - Gateway Bank Ocala, Florida

(D) - Bank of Central Florida Lakeland, Florida

(D+) - Bank of Coral Gables Coral Gables, Florida

(D) - Bank Trust Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

(D-) - Beach Community Bank Ft. Walton Beach, Florida

(D+) - Biscayne Bank Coconut Grove, Florida

(D) - First Bank Jacksonville, Florida

(D) - Gateway Bank Ocala, Florida

(D-) - Great Eastern Bank Miami, Florida

(D+) Great Florida Bank Miami, Florida

(D-) - Sunrise Bank Cocoa Beach, Florida

This is not an exhaustive list of possible failing banks in Florida. There are about 3,000 (D rated) banks in the country another 500 of (E rated) banks. Banks may have certain branches under different names and different parent companies. Wachovia shows five different names all under a different rating. Two of the Wachovia banks have a (B rating) and the other three Wachovias have a (C or low C rating). Citi Bank is allegedly buying Wachovia. Is this buyout a move on Citi Bank’s part to obtain Wachovia before ratings drop further and Wachovia fails? Another bank to watch to maybe fail or be bought up is SunTrust Bank, based in Atlanta, Georgia yet servicing many states. SunTrust has a (C-) rating showing yellow flags of caution here and you may want to spread out your deposits to other banks.

For Florida, here is a list of (A rated) banks you may want to consider moving deposits into. Again, this list is not exhaustive.

Hillsboro Bank Plant City, Florida

City National Miami, Florida

Drummond Community Bank Chiefland, Fl

Community State Bank of Starke Florida

There are about (14 - A rated) banks in Florida and about 110 (B rated) banks in Florida. Readers may want to locate these banks to feel secure during this financial examination. One question readers need to ask: “How does Congress choose what banks they want taxpayers to bail out? What Constitutional authority does Congress have to bailout any business in a free market society? Of the banks Congress chooses to bail out, how much money did each Congressman make from these banks prior to the real estate bust and now?

Detective Krum 9/27/2008