I went to www.bankrate.com and checked out the ratings of banks in my area. Look in the Spotlight window for "Is your bank safe?" and "Safe and Sound Ratings."

They have two different measures for rating banks [ranked best to worst (1-5 CAEL rating and 5 star - 1 star rating)]. Turned out there were no 5 stars in my city, so I chose a 4 star (Nationwide Bank) with a miniscule unsecured loan rate. You might try the same for your city/state. My former bank turned out to have a 1 star rating and a 5 rank (lowest on both counts). I have since opened up a checking account in Nationwide and transferred most of my money there. Please do your own DD on this matter; I'm just relaying what I did. Good luck to us all.