Budgeting & Banking

Here’s the story: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), a government agency, insures accounts in its member banks, which include most banks in the United States. (There’s separate, comparable insurance for credit unions.) A $250,000 insurance limit applies per depositor per bank. For example, if you had $250,000 in a certificate of deposit (CD) in one bank and another $250,000 in a CD in another bank, both accounts would be covered. But if you had $300,000 in one CD, only $250,000 would be insured. You can actually qualify for more than the $250,000 coverage at a single bank if your assets are in different types of accounts. For example, an individual retirement account (IRA) is insured separately from a taxable account. So is a trust account. And you qualify for up to half the coverage on an account you own jointly with someone else. What’s not insured is any money you invest through a bank that’s not in a checking or savings account. For example, money in a mutual fund the bank sells is not insured, even if the name of the fund includes the name of the bank. But money in the bank’s money market account is insured. The bank is required to tell you which accounts are insured Read more…