How do you check to see if an online bank is legit / safe?

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cowboy3008
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Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 5:12 pm

How do you check to see if an online bank is legit / safe?

Post by cowboy3008 »

I'm looking to purchase some 60 month non callable CD's and it looks like First Internet Bank of Indiana has one of the best rates.
Other than verifying FDIC Insurance through their website, is there any other precautions I should take?
exodusNH
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Re: How do you check to see if an online bank is legit / safe?

Post by exodusNH »

cowboy3008 wrote: Thu Jun 01, 2023 8:25 am I'm looking to purchase some 60 month non callable CD's and it looks like First Internet Bank of Indiana has one of the best rates.
Other than verifying FDIC Insurance through their website, is there any other precautions I should take?
I had to poke around on their site to find the certificate number. Once you have that, you can plug it in to the FDIC site:

https://banks.data.fdic.gov/bankfind-su ... ails/34607

That CD does have a 1 year interest penalty if you break it.
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nisiprius
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Re: How do you check to see if an online bank is legit / safe?

Post by nisiprius »

Actually, the FDIC Bankfind tool usually works pretty well given the name of the bank. (Sometimes you need the address, which can take some digging. And sometimes you need to find the line at the bottom of the webpage that says "Kaboom!!! Bank is the Internet division of Farmer's Federal Trust of Winnemac.")
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