Break Your Chains

clipped from bloomberg.com the largest banks have actually grown during this crisis: Bank of America Corp. took over Merrill Lynch & Co., JPMorgan assumed Bear Stearns Cos. and Wells Fargo & Co. acquired Wachovia Corp. Bigger isn’t better for consumers. Prins says these institutions have “less incentive (since they have more market share) to offer higher savings rates, or broader credit terms to consumers, or open mortgage restructuring policies, or even lower fees on regular accounts -- they simply don’t have to, and it was not a condition of their bailout money to make it so.” Your best recourse may be to limit credit card use, make insured deposits at local thrifts and regional banks -- the deposit insurance limit is generally $250,000 per account through 2013 -- and turn to alternative sources of lending such as credit unions and your own family. Avoid commission-based services through banks, insurers and brokers.