Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Notice of Changes in Temporary FDIC Insurance Coverage for Transaction Accounts
All funds in a "noninterest-bearing transaction account" are insured in full by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from December 31, 2010, through December 31, 2012. This temporary unlimited coverage is in addition to, and separate from, the coverage of at least $250,000 available to depositors under the FDIC's general deposit insurance rules.
The term "noninterest-bearing transaction account" includes a traditional checking account or demand deposit account on which the insured depository institution pays no interest. It does not include other accounts, such as traditional checking or demand deposit accounts that may earn interest, NOW accounts, money-market deposit accounts, and Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts ("IOLTAs").
For more information about temporary FDIC insurance coverage of transaction accounts, visit the official FDIC Web site.
Maximize Your FDIC Coverage
FDIC deposit insurance is $250,000 per depositor, per deposit category. The FDIC provides separate insurance coverage for funds that depositors may have in different categories of legal ownership. The FDIC refers to these different categories as ownership categories.
This means that each ownership category you have at the same bank is separately insured:
- The FDIC adds together all single accounts owned by the same person at the same bank and insures the total up to $250,000.
- Every joint account that an individual owns at the same insured bank are added together with his or her other joint account shares at the same bank, and the total is insured up to $250,000.
- The FDIC adds together all Roth, Traditional, SEP and SIMPLE retirement accounts owned by the same person at the same insured bank and insures the total amount up to $250,000.
Here's one way a household can have $1,500,000 of FDIC insurance:
| Two Person Household | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountholders Within a Household | Account Type* | Account Balance | |
| Accountholder 1 | Individual Money Market or CD Account | $ | 250,000 |
| Accountholder 2 | Individual Money Market or CD Account | $ | 250,000 |
| Accountholder 1 | Traditional and/or Roth IRA CD | $ | 250,000 |
| Accountholder 2 | Traditional and/or Roth IRA CD | $ | 250,000 |
| Accountholder 1 & 2 | Joint Online Savings, Money Market or CD Account | $ | 500,000 |
| Total Deposits per Household | $ | 1,500,000 | |
| Total Amount Insured | $ | 1,500,000 | |
Here's one way a single depositor can be covered up to $500,000:
| One Person Household | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountholders Within a Household | Account Type* | Account Balance | |
| Accountholder 1 | Individual Online Savings, Money Market or CD Account | $ | 250,000 |
| Accountholder 1 | Traditional and/or Roth IRA CD | $ | 250,000 |
| Total Deposits per Household | $ | 500,000 | |
| Total Amount Insured | $ | 500,000 | |
Find more help calculating your coverage with the official FDIC Coverage Calculator.
*Account types include Discover Bank Online Savings, Money Market Accounts, CDs and IRAs.
