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Insuring Your Deposits
What Is the FDIC?
The FDIC – short for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – is an independent agency of the United States government. The FDIC protects you against the loss of your deposits if an FDIC-insured bank or savings association fails. FDIC insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The term “insured bank” is used in this brochure to mean any bank or savings association with FDIC insurance.
To check whether your bank or savings association is insured by FDIC, call toll-free 1-877-275-3342, use "Bank Find" at www.fdic.gov/deposit/index.html, or look for the official FDIC sign where deposits are received.
Why Is FDIC Insurance Important to You?
All FDIC-insured banks must meet high standards for financial strength and stability. The FDIC, with other federal and state regulatory agencies, regularly reviews the operations of insured banks to ensure these standards are met. Even with these safeguards, some insured banks fail. If your insured bank fails, FDIC insurance will cover your deposits, dollar for dollar, including principal and any accrued interest, up to the insurance limit.
Historically, insured deposits are available to customers of a failed bank within just a few days. Since the start of the FDIC in 1933, no depositor has ever lost a penny of insured deposits.
What Does the FDIC Insure?
The FDIC insures all deposits at insured banks, including checking, NOW and savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs), up to the insurance limit.
The FDIC does not insure the money you invest in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, life insurance policies, annuities, or municipal securities, even if you purchased these products from an insured bank.
Basic Insurance Amount Is $100,000
The basic insurance amount is $100,000 per depositor per insured bank. Certain retirement accounts, such as Individual Retirement Accounts, are insured up to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank.
If you and your family have $100,000 or less in all of your deposit accounts at the same insured bank, you do not need to worry about your insurance coverage -- your deposits are fully insured.
Coverage Over $100,000
The FDIC provides separate insurance coverage for deposit accounts held in different categories of ownership.
You may qualify for more than $100,000 in coverage at one insured bank if you own deposit accounts in different ownership categories.
The most common ownership categories are:
• Single Accounts
• Certain Retirement Accounts
• Joint Accounts
• Revocable Trust Accounts
Single Accounts
These are deposit accounts owned by one person and titled in that person’s name only. All of your single accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000. For example, if you have a checking account and a CD at the same insured bank, and both accounts are in your name only, the two accounts are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000.
Note: Retirement accounts and qualifying trust accounts are not included in this ownership category.
Certain Retirement Accounts
These are deposit accounts owned by one person and titled in the name of that person’s retirement plan. Only the following types of retirement plans are insured in this ownership category:
• Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) including traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRAs, and Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE) IRAs
• Section 457 deferred compensation plan accounts (whether self-directed or not)
• Self-directed defined contribution plan accounts
• Self-directed Keogh plan (or H.R. 10 plan) accounts
All deposits that an individual has in any of the types of retirement plans listed above at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. For example, if an individual has an IRA and a self-directed Keogh account at the same bank, the deposits in both accounts would be added together and insured up to $250,000.
Naming beneficiaries on a retirement account does not increase deposit insurance coverage.
Note: For information about FDIC insurance coverage for a type of retirement plan not listed above, refer to the FDIC resources on the back of this brochure.
Joint Accounts
These are deposit accounts owned by two or more people. If both owners have equal rights to withdraw money from a joint account, each person’s shares of all joint accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000.
If a couple has a joint checking account and a joint savings account at the same insured bank, each co-owner's shares of the two accounts are added together and insured up to $100,000, providing up to $200,000 in coverage for the couple's joint accounts.
Note: Jointly owned qualifying trust accounts are not included in this ownership category.
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