Fri, October 10, 2008
FDIC Account Insurance Limits Raised Temporarily
As part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the level of FDIC insurance coverage has increased as of October 3rd to $250,000. As I noted in an earlier post, it’s possible to have much more than $250,000 of coverage at the same bank, because the coverage depends on the titling of the account.
For example, if a husband and wife each have an IRA and an individual account, and the two also have a joint account at the same FDIC-insured bank, their deposits are insured to the following limits:
Husband:
Single-owner account - $250,000
Joint-owner account -$250,000
IRA -$250,000
Wife:
Single-owner account - $250,000
Joint-owner account -$250,000
IRA -$250,000
Together this couple could have up to $1.5 MM in the same bank and the full amount would be FDIC-insured.
According to the FDIC website, these new insurance limits are in place until December 31, 2009. Unless further legislative changes are enacted, I assume the FDIC insurance limits would return to their previous levels at the end of 2009.
UPDATED 08/11/2009: The FDIC Insurance limit increase has been extended through December 31, 2013.
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