That partly reflects a traditional year-end rush to tidy up banks' balance-sheets but also nervousness about lending directly to others.

ECONOMIST: The ECB fills banks with funds

Unlike a pre-tax healthcare flexible spending account, where you forfeit any unused balance at the end of the year under the use-it-or-lose-it rule, you can roll over any unused balance with an HSA, building a tax-free healthcare retirement kitty.

FORBES: What If You Use Your Health Savings Debit Card For Take-Out?

If MCIcan emerge from Chapter 11 (it hopes to do so by year-end), it will have one of the cleanest balance sheets in telecom.

FORBES: Screaming Match

Banks have been hoarding cash, preparing their balance sheets for the quarter-end and year-end.

FORBES: Search & Rescue

Its balance sheets have shrunk by several hundred billion dollars since its year-end highs.

FORBES: Washington: Still Abusing the Economy...

According to Goodwin, a customer's checking his bank balance is a great cross-selling lead (awaiting a year-end bonus, perhaps?), and cost-conscious banks that forward callers to outsourced operators may be missing the plot.

FORBES: Magazine Article