Sophie (Chanko) Dare

I've seen the classic film It's A Wonderful Life many times; it's one of my favorites to watch around Christmastime, Jimmy Stewart is a sweetheart, and its message of hope and love always gets me choked up.

One of the most memorable (and stressful) scenes in the film is when the townspeople make a run on the bank, which Jimmy Stewart's character's family operates, and they just barely make it through the panic with two dollar bills left to spare at closing time. That scenario mirrors the bank crashes of the Great Depression, when Americans pulled all their funds out of bank accounts and collapsed the financial system.

I bring up this scene in order to tell all of you something to ease your mind amidst all the COVID-19 uncertainty:

A disclaimer: I am not claiming to know everything about the situation, but I do know some things that I feel are important to share with people.

I work at a credit union in Michigan that has 13 branches throughout the state, over $1 billion in total assets, and over 70,000 members. We, along with almost every other credit union in the country, are backed by the US government with NCUA insurance (National Credit Union Administration), which states that all liquid funds deposited in our accounts are fully backed & insured up to $250,000. For anyone who banks with... well, a regular bank, the same concept & amount applies through the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).

Now, many people are concerned about their money right now because they saw the stock market take massive losses in the past two weeks. So to anyone with investments or stock, that is troublesome, and there are hard decisions to be made about how much money to leave in the market and how much to pull out. But to anyone worrying about their regular money in a regular bank account... stop worrying!

We have had members of our credit union coming to the branch in droves, pulling out large sums of their accounts in cash in a panicked attempt to have their funds physically available so nothing can happen to them. I just want to say to them, “have you ever read the signs all over our lobby?”

The stock market can fall as much as it wants; your cash in your savings and checking accounts is going to stay the same.

(Unless you have over the insured $250,000 limit in your accounts, in which case... I can't relate.)

The bottom line is, this is not an It's A Wonderful Life scene in the bank, even though some people are making it look that way.

If you want my two cents (pun intended) on the matter, it seems a lot smarter to keep all your funds available electronically, in a checking account with a debit card, so that you are able to purchase things easily online for delivery or pickup while we are all staying at home, practicing social distancing!

Keep your head on straight, don't make any hasty or panic-driven decisions, and we will all be able to return to our wonderful lives when this tough time is over.

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