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Knowyourbank.com’s blogs are focused on topics such as personal finance, credit, and bank fees. Our goal is to help provide readers with information that will help them make better decisions, save money, and avoid unnecessary fees.

 

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Student Loan Rehabilitation

Last week, the U.S. Department of education released the official three-year federal student loan default rates. This is the first time the department has ever published this figure. The official default rate across all education sectors is 13.8%. Here's the real kicker. For-Profit educational institutions had an average three year default rate of 22.7% and [...]

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Best Bank? It Depends on Needs.

A lot of people want to know what is the "Best Bank" for them to open an account with. The truth is that there are many excellent banks out there doing a great job. What it comes down to are your personal preferences as a customer and which specific features are important to you. Below [...]

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Founder’s Corner: The New Knowyourbank

Today begins the start of a new phase in the story of Knowyourbank. We launched the first iteration of Knowyourbank on March 12th, 2012. Since then we have learned a tremendous amount from our users and appreciate your support. At the end of last night we have had over 114,000 unique visitors to the site. [...]

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Refinancing: How Much Can You Really Save?

Right now, we’re looking at record low interest rates. As a result, many people are thinking about refinancing their homes. Refinancing to a lower interest rate can save you in terms of monthly payment, as well as in terms of what you pay overall. Can you really save that much? And is it really worth [...]

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Create Your Own Emergency Fund

Large enough to handle most issues: Your emergency fund should be large enough to handle most issues, including car repairs, new appliances, and other similar costs. Your goal in building an emergency fund should also be to create enough capital that, if you needed it, you could cover your living expenses in the event that [...]

Thrift Financial Data is Coming to Knowyourbank in June

Thrift financial data is currently not available on the site (we have location and branch data for all thrifts). You can tell your on a thrift's page when you see N/A across all the financial ratio boxes. We will have the most current thrift data for you in June, so please come back to Knowyourbank. [...]

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5 Ways You Can Improve Your Credit Score

Your credit score amounts to your financial reputation. If you want the best interest rate on a mortgage, and the lowest insurance premiums, you need a good financial reputation. Banks, lenders, insurers, and others offering financial products and services need to feel that you are an acceptable risk. Cultivating a good credit score is an [...]

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New Functionality – Request Bank Fees

The site is constantly evolving and we are working to make the site better every day. One area which we are constantly working to fill out is our fees section. Today we launched a fees notification link on each "accounts and fees" page of every bank in our system. Clicking the link will help you [...]

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FDIC Announces Failure of Premier Bank & Covenant Bank & Trust

The FDIC announced today that two additional community banks have failed in 2012. Premier Bank of Wilmette, IL and Covenant Bank & Trust of Rock Spring, GA are the 14th and 15th banks to fail this year. The FDIC has entered into purchase and assumption agreements with both the International Bank of Chicago (for Premier Bank) and [...]

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FDIC Extends Stress Test Comment Period

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) decided to extend the comment period on a proposal to implement the requirements in Section 165 of the Dodd-Frank Act (covers risk governance, risk measurement, risk disclosure, risk-based capital and risk control) to require state, nonmember banks and savings associations with more than $10 billion in consolidated assets to [...]

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