Comments on: Financial Calamity

By: Scotch Drinker

Scotch Drinker — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:01:13 +0000

Actually, the “God’s work” comment originally came from Lloyd Blankfein who claimed to be doing God’s work at Goldman Sachs which is exactly what you would expect to hear from an egomaniac partially responsible for our current economy.

I don’t know about Frost but American National Bank of Texas is pretty slow about setting up online access, I’m still waiting for my log in info a week later. I guess that’s one of the drawbacks of going local and small.

By: Sheik Yerbouti

Sheik Yerbouti — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:04:59 +0000

I believe the “God’s work” line is from the commentator, and he’s being just a teeny bit sarcastic.

Frost seems to have a personal banking website, so it would appear that they have your concerns covered.

By: Scotch Drinker

Scotch Drinker — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:34:49 +0000

I think that’s also true, that without the economy of scale that a Chase has, smaller banks can’t do the same things. Of course, that’s a two edged sword.

Yes, it’s my New Year’s Resolution to be only be sunny-side up cynical instead of hard-boiled cynical. That will probably last through February.

By: seedub

seedub — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:09:18 +0000

i suppose it’s possible, additionally, that smaller banks simply do not have same resources with which to take the monstrous risks the larger institutions do. it could be as simple as that responsible investment and behavior is a sort of resource-governed issue with them.
huh. that’s a very sunny-side-up-cynical view of things for you.

By: Scotch Drinker

Scotch Drinker — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:49:01 +0000

Yeah, that’s been my biggest concern for switching. I have a huge list of people/things/bookies I pay with online banking and I agree, Chase gets that part right. I’m hoping ANB of Texas does as well.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 03:15:56 +0000

Then, I only question the ability of the small banks to conduct business over the net. I’m moving my biz account to Frost, and will soon find out. But I simply have got to be able to pay bills online and receive payments online, and do so simply. I get that from Chase, and I worry about Frost.

By: Scotch Drinker

Scotch Drinker — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:50:44 +0000

While it is easy to succumb to the cynical dark side, I still have some bone in my body that says this will all turn out ok. It’s a really small bone though.

The big banks can’t possibly buy all the little banks. There are literally hundreds of small community banks in any decent size metropolitan area. If mine gets bought, I’ll move to another one.

And I would argue that they have very little reason to act like the big banks. Small to medium sized community banks rely heavily on the relationships they build within the community. At American National Bank of Texas, where I just got a checking account, 5 people walked in while I was there and the tellers knew the first names of 4 of them. That’s impressive. Big banks can treat you like crap because of their volume. Small banks don’t have that luxury.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:01:13 +0000

I half-expect the little banks to start acting like the big banks, too. It’s extremely profitable, and there’s no reason for them NOT to, besides principles.

I guess we’ll see.

By: sirfwalgman

sirfwalgman — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:24:59 +0000

Won’t the big banks just buy our little banks once they become bigger?