By now, most of the dirty laundry within the banking industry has been aired. The federal government has also signaled its intention to “bail out” or rescue troubled lenders in order to ward of an economic calamity. These factors lead me to believe that the time is right to start slowly accumulating shares of the stronger banks that were the most insulated from sub-prime, yet were punished hard with the whole industry.

Some of the names that catch my eye are Wells Fargo (WFC) and  TCF Bank (TCB).  Both banks have steered clear of the worst of the subprime loans and appear poised to rebound at the first sign of strength in the industry. Both banks are also writing down very few loans, unlike some of the bigger banks such as Citigroup that are writing down billions of dollars in subprime loans.

TCF Bank also comes packed with a 6%+ dividend, while Wells Fargo sports a 4.5% dividend yield. With the potential for rising rates in the lending marketplace, many banks should begin realizing larger gains as the marketplace settles and the federal reserve begins raising rates to bolster the dollar.

[tags]banks, tcf bank, wells fargo, dividend, banking, shaun carter, subprime, citigroup, federal reserve, dollar, bailout, lenders[/tags]