FDIC

The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) insures deposits of account holders at financial institutions against the failure of the institution. The insurance is paid for by the financial institution and insures up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution, and per ownership category (single, joint account). The accounts covered are checking, savings, money market, and certificates of deposit (CD’s). For example, a single account holder at Bank ABC with a checking balance of $100,000, savings balance of $100,000 and CD of $100,000 (a total of $300,000) would have $250,000 of insured funds and $50,000 of uninsured funds.  Joint account holders (2 people) at the same institution would have up to $500,000 of insured accounts ($250,000 per depositor). If you are single and have more than $250,000 cash in the bank, consider using more than one financial institution to be fully insured. Credit unions have similar insurance offered by the National Credit Union Administration.