Hey laz,
Good question!!!
I got the answer from Wikipedia.
Federal Savings Banks are also called Federal Savings Associations.
They are financial institutions chartered by the Office of Thrift Supervision.
FSB's are member-driven (like credit unions) and offer a wide variety of
products and services. In the case of USAA, they specialize in insurance
and annuity products. But as many of the forum members will attest, they
offer various loan products to include credit cards, mortgages, lines of credit, etc.
FSB's also tend to cater to a specific group of people (an association).
In USAA's case, they proudly serve the military community.
FSB's are very different from Savings and Loans. They used to be chartered
by the now defunct Federal Savings & Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC),
but this organization was dissolved after the S&L crisis of the 1980's.
S & L's are now chartered by the Office of Thrift Supervision, but their focus
is taking on savings deposits and making mortgage loans. S&L's also are
normally local institutions open to the general public...sort of like your
neighborhood community banks.
And speaking of banks: Banks are chartered by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation (FDIC). Everybody and their brother is applying for bank status
these days, most notably companies like American Express, GMAC, etc.
I hope this helps you. I'm not really this smart....it's all about Wikipedia.
CanDo
"The right attitude is everything"
Message Edited by CanDoAttitude on 12-21-2008 08:30 PM
