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Key Facts
- Federal level: Standard FDIC coverage is $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, for each qualifying ownership category.
- Federal level: Accounts in the same ownership category at the same bank are generally added together before the limit is applied.
- Federal level: Checking, savings, money market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit are common covered products.
- Federal level: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, crypto assets, and safe-deposit-box contents are not FDIC-insured products.
- Federal level: FDIC insurance protects eligible deposits when an insured bank fails; it does not cover every loss involving a bank account.
FDIC coverage protects eligible deposits at an FDIC-insured bank if that bank fails. The basic formula is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category, but applying it requires more than counting account statements.
The legal owner, bank charter, account category, beneficiaries, and recordkeeping determine how balances are combined. A checking account and savings account do not receive separate limits merely because they are different products.
Which bank products are covered
FDIC-insured deposit products include checking accounts, negotiable order of withdrawal accounts, savings accounts, money market deposit accounts, and time deposits such as certificates of deposit. Cashier’s checks, money orders, and certain other official items issued by an insured bank can also be deposits.
Coverage is automatic for qualifying deposits at an FDIC-insured bank. A depositor does not purchase a separate policy, but should verify the bank through the FDIC’s BankFind Suite rather than relying only on advertising.
The $250,000 limit applies by ownership category
All deposits a person owns in the single-account category at one insured bank are added together and insured up to $250,000. Opening several single-owner savings accounts at different branches of that same bank does not multiply coverage.
Deposits at separately chartered FDIC-insured banks are insured separately. A bank’s brand, branches, and online divisions may not reveal whether institutions share one charter, so the FDIC certificate number is important.
Separate categories can provide additional coverage
FDIC categories include single accounts, certain retirement accounts, joint accounts, trust accounts, employee benefit plan accounts, business accounts, and government accounts. Funds meeting the requirements of different categories receive separate insurance calculations.
For joint accounts, each co-owner’s combined ownership interest in all qualifying joint accounts at the bank is generally insured up to $250,000. Two equal co-owners can therefore have up to $500,000 of joint-account coverage if every regulatory requirement is met.
Certain self-directed retirement deposits, including qualifying IRAs, are insured separately up to $250,000 per owner. Trust-account coverage depends on the owners, eligible beneficiaries, balances, and the current trust-account rules; merely adding a payable-on-death label does not answer every coverage question.
What FDIC insurance excludes
The FDIC does not insure stock or bond investments, mutual funds, crypto assets, life insurance, annuities, municipal securities, or safe-deposit-box contents. That remains true when an insured bank or its affiliate sells or provides access to the product.
U.S. Treasury securities are not FDIC insured, although Treasury obligations have the separate backing of the federal government. A money market deposit account is a bank deposit, while a money market mutual fund is an investment; their similar names do not give them the same protection.
What happens when a bank fails
FDIC insurance includes principal and accrued interest through the date the insured bank closes, up to the applicable limit. The FDIC commonly transfers insured deposits to another bank or pays depositors directly.
Balances above the insured amount become claims against the failed bank’s receivership and may recover only through distributions from available assets. Deposit insurance does not protect against identity theft, an unauthorized transfer, a merchant dispute, investment fluctuation, or insolvency of a nonbank company.
Events that can change coverage
A bank merger, death of an owner, change of beneficiaries, or movement of funds between categories can change the calculation. FDIC regulations provide temporary or transitional rules for some events, so the result should be checked when account ownership changes.
Pass-through coverage can protect the interests of underlying owners when an agent, custodian, broker, or financial-technology company places funds at an insured bank, but only if the applicable ownership and recordkeeping requirements are satisfied. The nonbank intermediary itself is not made FDIC insured by that arrangement.
How to check a coverage total
Group accounts by the same depositor, insured bank, and ownership category, then include accrued interest. Confirm trusts, businesses, benefit plans, and custodial arrangements under their specific requirements rather than using the single-account rule.
The FDIC’s Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator can model common account structures. A companion explanation of an FDIC-insured deposit account focuses on identifying eligible products and institutions.
