Aug. 10--Is your bank safe?

For the first time in years, that question is being asked by depositors as the decaying housing market continues to take its toll on financial institutions.

Lines of angry customers outside failed Pasadena thrift IndyMac Bancorp, as well as staggering second-quarter losses by big banks such as Washington Mutual and Wachovia, hark back to the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

But even though banks probably will continue to face tough times because of the weak economy and housing losses, they are in much better shape overall today than they were during the S&L debacle, industry experts say.

That's because most banks, which are coming off several strong-profit years, are sitting on a lot of capital -- money available to provide a cushion against losses.

"The core of the banking industry is fairly sound, and the reason is that it comes into this, by and large, with a fairly large capital position," said Bert Ely, a banking industry consultant based in Alexandria, Va. "We will see more bank failures, but they will be mostly small banks that got too concentrated in certain types of risk -- home mortgages, home equity loans, lending to builders, that sort of thing."

The Federal Reserve also has made it easier for banks to borrow, so they're less likely to face a short-term cash crunch. Regulators such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have more authority and money today to deal with troubled banks, industry experts say.

Moreover, depositors have myriad ways to protect their money beyond the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit per individual account and $250,000 limit for some retirement accounts.

By opening different types of accounts, among other steps, individual depositors can insure at least $450,000 at one institution, while a couple could insure about $1 million depending on their circumstances, said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst with Bankrate.com.

For depositors, taking steps to make sure their money is insured is smarter than poring over financial statements to figure out whether their bank might fail, McBride said.

"The average consumer is in no position to be playing bank examiner," he said.

Banks' strong capital status is the story they're telling to ease depositors' fears. Ninety-nine percent of U.S. banks are classified as "well capitalized" by the FDIC, according to the American Bankers Association. That's the FDIC's highest designation of soundness and is based on formulas for how much capital a bank maintains relative to the riskiness of its assets -- mostly loans.

So a bank with a large credit card business, such as Bank of America, must have more capital to be considered well-capitalized than a bank with loans secured by high-quality mortgages, which have collateral and are considered less likely to go bad. Banks must have a total risk-weighted capital ratio of 10 percent or greater to be considered well-capitalized by the FDIC.