FDIC Insurance
What is FDIC Insurance?
The money you deposit in a bank is used in a variety of ways, such as loans and various investments. When we invest there is always an element of risk and it’s no different for banks. Although rare, banks do occasionally suffer insurmountable losses and when they do it is your money that disappears.
Having your account insured by the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), will ensure you money is safe should the bank encounter financial problems. More....
What does FDIC cover?
FDIC insurance applies to all deposits at covered banks. This includes:
- Checking accounts
- Savings accounts
- CDs
- Money market accounts (but not money market funds)
FDIC insurance does not cover:
- Safety deposit box contents
- Investments such as mutual funds or stocks
- Insurance products such as annuities
FDIC cover limitations
While not a problem for perhaps the majority of consumers, having too much money in one bank can expose you to risk.
The basic FDIC insurance limits are:
- $100,000 per depositor
- $250,000 in certain retirement accounts per depositor
Purchasing deposit accounts from more than one provider will increase the FDIC insurance coverage. However, because banks reward customers with the largest deposits, spreading your investments too thin could mean you miss out on the best CD interest rates.
It is possible to have more than $100,000 of coverage at one bank if the money is spread among various owners or ‘registrations’. For further assistance, calculate FDIC insurance coverage limits using the Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE) tool.
Also, if you want to know if your bank is FDIC compliant, you can find out using this Bank Find tool.
Make yourself at home in our Forum and find out what everyone else thinks about FDIC in America. There is also our up-to-date News section for all the latest on personal finance. If you need help finding a provider or would like to review a company, please don’t go without checking out our A-Z directory.
