| Safe Bank Checking Savings Accounts |
| By Credit Federal |
Published
09/30/2008
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Financial Tips
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Is your bank FDIC insured? Find out how much; if any, of your bank checking and savings account money is safe from loss due to financial disaster
Related Financial Services:Is your bank FDIC insured?- Make sure all of your deposits are insured. No customer has ever lost a dime in insured deposits in a bank failure, but not all bank customers have that protection. The FDIC estimates that about 37% of all bank deposits are uninsured. Some of those accounts belong to businesses that keep more than $100,000 in the bank to pay bills, but other accounts may belong to people who don't understand the deposit insurance limits. Here are the FDIC insurance limits:
- The FDIC insures up to $100,000 for individual accounts, $200,000 for joint accounts and up to $250,000 for retirement accounts. But when a bank fails, some customers discover that they have inadvertently exceeded the limits. Here's what you need to know:
- Joint accounts are covered for up to $200,000 if both account holders have equal withdrawal rights. If one account holder needs the other's permission to take withdrawals, it's not considered a joint account for insurance purposes.
- If you have deposits at two banks that merge, you could end up exceeding deposit insurance limits. As the banking industry becomes increasingly concentrated, this could become an issue for more savers. When two banks merge, the FDIC provides full coverage for six months after the merger, or in the case of CDs, until maturity. After that, depositors need to move some of their money to an unaffiliated bank to maintain full protection.
- You can significantly increase your coverage with revocable trust accounts, typically known as payable-on-death or living-trust accounts. The FDIC will cover up to $100,000 per beneficiary for these accounts. In the past, the coverage was limited to "qualifying beneficiaries," defined as spouses, children, grandchildren, parents and siblings. But last week, the FDIC voted to eliminate this requirement. Now, deposit insurance will cover any beneficiary named in the trust.
- The FDIC provides up to $250,000 in insurance for retirement accounts such as individual retirement accounts and Keoghs.
The FDIC says it insures more than $3 trillion in deposits. Meanwhile, both the Republican and the Democratic presidential party candidates proposed that the government increase the individual $100,000 limit of protection to $250,000. BANK FAILURES IN 2008 Source: FDIC | | | Bank | | | | Washington Mutual | | | Ameribank | | | Silver State Bank | | | Integrity Bank | | | Columbian Bank and Trust | | | First Priority Bank | | | First Heritage Bank | | | First National Bank of Reno | | | IndyMac | | | First Integrity Bank | | | ANB Financial | | | Hume Bank | | | Douglass National Bank | | | |
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