Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Learn about deposit insurance and estimate the adequacy of your deposit insurance by using Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE) a service of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The FDIC's mission is to maintain the stability of and public confidence in the nation's financial system. To achieve this goal, the FDIC has insured deposits and promoted safe and sound banking practices since 1933.

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Bankrate.com
Bankrate, Inc. is the Web's leading aggregator of financial rate information. Bankrate's rate data research offering is unique in its depth and breadth. Bankrate continually surveys approximately 4,800 financial institutions in all 50 states in order to provide clear, objective, and unbiased rates to consumers. Our flagship Web site, Bankrate.com, provides free rate information to consumers on more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used automobile loans, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees.

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The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS)
The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury, is the primary regulator of federal savings associations (sometimes referred to as federal thrifts). Federal savings associations include both federal savings banks and federal savings and loans. The OTS is also responsible for supervising savings and loan holding companies (SLHCs) and some state-chartered institutions.

The OTS was established by Congress as a bureau of the Department of the Treasury on August 9, 1989 as part of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989.

The OTS has regional offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Jersey City, San Francisco, and Chicago.

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The Federal Reserve System (FED)
The Federal Reserve System (also the Federal Reserve; informally The Fed) is the central banking system of the United States. The Federal Reserve System, created in 1913, is a private banking system composed of (1) the presidentially-appointed Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C.; (2) the Federal Open Market Committee; (3) 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks located in major cities throughout the nation acting as fiscal agents for the U.S. Treasury, each with its own nine-member board of directors; (4) numerous private U.S. member banks, which subscribe to required amounts of non-transferable stock in their regional Federal Reserve Banks; and (5) various advisory councils.

Currently, Ben Bernanke serves as the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

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Credit Bureaus
A credit bureau is a company that provides credit information on individual borrowers. This helps lenders assess credit worthiness, the ability to pay back a loan, and can affect the interest rate applied to loans. Interest rates are not the same for everyone, but instead are based on risk-based pricing, a form of price discrimination based on the different expected costs of different borrowers, as set out in their credit rating.

Credit bureaus collect and collate personal financial data on individuals and businesses, from data furnishers with which the bureaus have a relationship. Data furnishers are businesses, utilities, debt collection agencies, public institutions and the courts (i.e. public records) that a consumer or business has had a relationship or experience with. Data furnishers report the experience with the consumer or business to the credit bureau. The data provided supplied by the data furnishers as well as collected by the bureaus is then aggregated into the credit bureaus data repository or files. The resulting information is made available on request to contributing companies for the purposes of credit assessment and credit scoring. Given the large number of consumer borrowers, these credit scores tend to be mechanistic. In other words, the different credit bureaus collect data from a variety of sources and then apply a mathematical algorithm to assess the likelihood that an individual will repay a given debt given the frequency that other individuals in similar situations have defaulted. Most consumer welfare advocates advise individuals to review their credit reports at least once per year, in order to ensure that the reports are accurate.

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Visit Experian Web site

Visit TransUnion Web site

Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Identity Theft Site
This web site is a one-stop national resource to learn about the crime of identity theft. It provides detailed information to help you deter, detect, and defend against identity theft.

On this site, consumers can learn how to avoid identity theft – and learn what to do if their identity is stolen. Businesses can learn how to help their customers deal with identity theft, as well as how to prevent problems in the first place. Law enforcement can get resources and learn how to help victims of identity theft.

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Fake Checks.org
This Web site was created by the National Consumers League (NCL), the nation's oldest nonprofit consumer organization, as a central source of information and advice about fake check scams. NCL created the site in collaboration with the Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness, a coalition of consumer and business organizations, government agencies, and companies that are committed to fighting fake check scams.

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