Wheatworks Blog: Financial Matters

I first mentioned BauerFinancial, Inc. in this blog on June 6, 2006 in a post titled, “How Healthy Is Your Bank?”

I’ve learned something today about my local community bank and the credit union I use. Both are in worse condition this year than last. Instead of “Good”, they’re both now classified as “Adequate” by BauerFinancial, Inc., the firm that has analyzed and reported the performance of U.S. banks and credit unions since 1983.

How do I know how my local bank and credit union are now faring in this down economy? I did the same thing you can do. I visited BauerFinancial’s website and read the current analysis of the two firms.

BauerFinancial reports that health of financial firms using a star rating system. The rankings are:

• Superior
• Excellent
• Good
• Adequate
• Problematic
• Troubled

What will I do with this news? I’ll not act on it right now but I’ll have something to talk about when I next visit my bank and credit union. Competition is a good thing. There’s another community bank in town that has 5 stars and ranks “Superior”.

Find out how your bank or credit union is doing:
http://www.bauerfinancial.com/btc_ratings.asp