Banking

One of my readers asked me to re-write the Wikipedia entry on banking several years ago.  My reader knew I knew more about banking than most people writing for Wikipedia.  When I looked at the banking entry I found the first sentence described the Federal Reserve Bank.  I knew that idiots were involved and relied on my personal policy of spending only 4 hours of my total life on idiots.  Nearly the entire 4 hours is already used up.

I looked at the current Wikipedia entry and it is not bad.  It doesn't answer any of the questions ordinary people ask but technically it is sound.

The most common questions I get asked are does the bank I choose make a difference?  Are banks safe? What kind of account should I have?

Each of these requires a careful personalized response.  For example: if you travel, Citibank used to be a good choice because you can withdraw from their ATMs in local currency.  Now they charge too much (3-4% per transaction), so the issue is more complex.  If you are going to want a business loan you need to know the branch manager; on the other hand a big bank may have specialist lenders in your field. 

We need an interactive site to answer these questions, and the site needs to be updated regularly.