FDIC: Deposit Insurance (2024)

FAQs

Does the FDIC insure $250000 in multiple accounts? ›

The standard deposit insurance coverage limit is $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, per ownership category. Deposits held in different ownership categories are separately insured, up to at least $250,000, even if held at the same bank.

The FDIC protects the money depositors place in insured banks in the unlikely event of an insured-bank failure. Each depositor is insured to at least $250,000 per insured bank. FDIC deposit insurance covers all types of deposits held at an insured bank.

If a couple has a joint money market deposit account, a joint savings account, and a joint CD at the same insured bank, each co-owner's shares of the three accounts are added together and insured up to $250,000 per owner, providing up to $500,000 in coverage for the couple's joint accounts.

The FDIC insures up to $250,000 per account holder, insured bank and ownership category in the event of bank failure. If you have more than $250,000 in the bank, or you're approaching that amount, you may want to structure your accounts to make sure your funds are covered.

Millionaires can insure their money by depositing funds in FDIC-insured accounts, NCUA-insured accounts, through IntraFi Network Deposits, or through cash management accounts. They may also allocate some of their cash to low-risk investments, such as Treasury securities or government bonds.

Each co-owner of a joint account is insured up to $250,000 for the combined amount of his or her interests in all joint accounts at the same IDI. In determining a co-owner's interest in a joint account, the FDIC assumes each co-owner is an equal owner unless the IDI records clearly indicate otherwise.

The other way to maximize FDIC insurance is to have accounts at the same bank in different ownership categories. You get up to $250,000 in coverage for each ownership category, even within the same bank.

Theoretically, you could insure $1 million or more by opening multiple accounts and maxing out your FDIC coverage limits. For instance, you could open four savings accounts at four different banks with $250,000 each.

The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.

NOTE ON BENEFICIARIES: WHILE SOME SELF-DIRECTED RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS, LIKE IRAS, PERMIT THE OWNER TO NAME ONE OR MORE BENEFICIARIES, THE EXISTENCE OF BENEFICIARIES DOES NOT INCREASE THE AVAILABLE INSURANCE COVERAGE.

Who owns a joint account when one person dies? ›

Most joint bank or credit union accounts are held with “rights of survivorship.” This means that when one account owner dies, the money passes to the surviving owner, or equally to the rest of the owners if there are multiple people on the account. Or, the account could be titled as “tenants in common.”

The short answer is yes. CDs are federally insured by the FDIC. The FDIC insures deposit accounts up to $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank and per ownership category. This includes savings and checking accounts as well as money market accounts and CDs.

But fewer than one percent–just 0.83 percent–of these accounts have more than $250,000. It is true that almost 60 percent of total deposits, by dollar amount, is in those accounts. But relatively few accounts have balances greater than $250,000, and only the amount above the cap is uninsured.

Remember that these limits are applied at the individual bank level. If you have more than $250,000 to deposit, you could open multiple accounts at different banks to spread out those funds. This could make it easier to stay under any bank-imposed account limits, as well as the FDIC coverage limits.

FDIC deposit insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, for each account ownership category.

The FDIC refers to these different categories as “ownership categories.” This means that a bank customer who has multiple accounts may qualify for more than $250,000 in insurance coverage if the customer's funds are deposited in different ownership categories and the requirements for each ownership category are met.

If you have accounts at different FDIC-insured banks, the limit applies at each bank: $250,000 per depositor for each account ownership category. You can calculate your specific insurance coverage amount using the Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE), a calculator that is available on the FDIC's website.

Insurance Limit

Each co-owner of a joint account is insured up to $250,000 for the combined amount of his or her interests in all joint accounts at the same IDI. In determining a co-owner's interest in a joint account, the FDIC assumes each co-owner is an equal owner unless the IDI records clearly indicate otherwise.