Has anyone heard anything about banking in the Katrina affected area? I'm curious if people with accounts in local banks can still get their money. I haven't a clue how (or where!) banks store account information these days. Do local banks outsource their record keeping? If so, is it reasonable to expect to be able to still get money / write checks after your local branch gets flooded?

Sure. I have a cash stash, but that'll only last so long. As will the credit cards. If you want to be ready to stay away from home for weeks or months, you'll need more than that.

FDIC and state banking departments require every bank to have a formal disaster recovery plan; ideally, one that iincludes real-time data backup at multiple (remote) secure locations. So, once power/telecommunications capability is restored, depositors should be able to access their funds.

On the news, saw a small-town community bank in Mississippi that didn't have power restored, who was allowing accountholders to pull $200 cash out on the "honor system." Due to lack of power/data lines, bank had no way of confirming whether or not depositor actually had sufficient money in their account. Don't expect that from a B of A or Wells Fargo.

Like any other business, effectiveness of back-up/disaster recovery plan varies from bank to bank – some good, some not so good. Hopefully, those in hurricane-prone areas took the task seriously.

I would suspect that large regional banks would give you better service in an emergency because of more branches over a wider area, and because of web services.

The big banks are able to resell banking services to the smaller ones and a lot of smaller ones sign up with those services. I work for a large bank and we process transactions for hundreds of smaller banks and are required to have redundant data centers which are seperated by something like 3000 miles.
A lot of companies were/are paying their employees their normal salary via direct deposit so even if they have evacuated they can still find a working atm somewhere and access their accounts. The people with problems are the ones that still get paper checks because its not as easy to reroute a check in the mail or send to a different location just by someone calling in and asking it to be rerouted, my wife is in payroll and they are having a hard time verifying peoples ID's who want a check mailed to somewhere other than their home address so make sure you have direct deposit as well as some cash on hand.

As a Postal Manager, I second what Eugene said. Get direct deposit, why anybody does not is beyond me. We still have mail service suspended to a number of zip codes in the Gulf region.

Ok. Thanks! I feel a little better. I've been doing the direct deposit thing for a while, and I've recently swtiched to a bank that offers a web interface, so hopefully I won't be cut off if we get a direct hit.

And, too, not all of my stuff is in one bank. Like many, I have stuff in mutual funds at a different location, and so on, so I guess even if the bank itself is down, the others will still work.

Some people don't want direct deposit because they prefer depositing their paychecks in different accounts, in different banks.

The transfer fees some banks charge scare away people so much, I understand why some people don't want direct deposit.

This must be a Canada thing. Neither my bank nor my employer charge anything for direct deposit. In fact, the bank waves certain online banking fees if you have direct deposit (or a balance over a certain amount). I can either split the deposit before it leaves my employer (up to three different accounts) or once it hits the bank.

If your bank is charging for this, find another bank. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

They don't charge for direct deposit in Canada either, but they do charge for everything else, basically.

Most people don't like paying for banking service fees or simply won't agree to pay for packages that can cost as high as 12 $/month!

Those people either deposit their checks where they need them (this is the original topic).

Others like myself have their paycheck deposited direct. In this case, usually you will get one free electronic transaction "debit, transfer, check, etc." for every direct deposit. Allows you to visit the ATM twice a month to get a few thousand grands for your monthly expenses.

(just kiddin' ya, I don't earn that much). <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

Yes, definatly find another bank. Direct deposit saves banks so much $. A paper check it touched by something like 20 people so thats all those salaries and insurance and such that they have to pay where a deirct deposit skips most of those steps saving all kinds of $. My bank doesn't even charge for online bill pay anymore so no more late fees due to lost/slow checks in the mail.
With the passing of the check21 law paper checks are going to be scanned and transferred electronically anyway so the peple that hold up the check out line writing their checks because they think there is some advantage are just getting even more annoying <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />