Single Accounts
These are deposit accounts owned by one person and titled in that person's name only. This account category does not include deposits held in individual retirement accounts because they are protected in a separate category.

All of your single accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000. If you have a checking account and a CD at the same insured bank, and both accounts are in your name only, the two accounts are added together and the total is insured up to $100,000.

Self-Directed Retirement Accounts
These are deposits you have in retirement accounts at an insured bank, for which you have the right to choose how the money is deposited or invested. Types of self-directed retirement accounts include traditional and Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and Simplified Employee Benefit Plans (SEPs).

All of your self-directed retirement accounts at the same insured bank are added together and the total is insured up to $250,000. Naming beneficiaries on a self-directed retirement account does not increase insurance coverage.

Joint Accounts
These are deposit accounts owned by two or more people who have equal rights to withdraw money from the account. Each person's share of each joint account, with the same or different co-owners at the same insured bank, is added together and the total is insured up to $100,000. If you have joint checking and savings accounts at the same insured bank, your portions of the two accounts are added together and insured up to $100,000.

Example:
John and Mary have $220,000 in a CD at an insured bank. Under FDIC rules, each person's share of each joint account is considered equal unless otherwise stated in the bank's records. This means that John and Mary each own $110,000 in the joint account category, putting a total of $20,000 ($10,000 for each) over the insurance limit.

John owns $110,000 ($100,000 insured, $10,000 uninsured)
Mary owns $110,000 ($100,000 insured, $10,000 uninsured)
Total owned jointly is $220,000 (200,000 insured, $20,000 uninsured)

Revocable Trust Accounts
These are deposits held in either a payable-on-death account or a living trust account.

Payable-on-death (POD) accounts – also known as testamentary or Totten Trust accounts – are the most common form of revocable trust deposits. These informal revocable trusts are created when the account owner signs an agreement – usually part of the bank's signature card – stating that the funds will be payable to a beneficiary upon the owner's death.

Living trusts – also known as family trusts – are formal revocable trusts created for estate planning purposes. The owner controls the funds in the trust during his or her lifetime. Upon the owner's death, the trust generally becomes irrevocable.

If certain conditions are met, revocable trust accounts are insured up to $100,000 per owner for each “qualifying” beneficiary.

Qualifying beneficiaries are the owner's spouse, child, grandchild, parent, or sibling. Adopted and step children, grandchildren, parents, and siblings also qualify. Others including in-laws, cousins, nieces and nephews, friends and organizations (including charities) do not qualify.

Note that living trust coverage is based on the interests of qualifying beneficiaries who would become entitled to receive trust assets when the trust owner dies (or if the trust is jointly owned, when the last owner dies). This means that, when determining coverage, the FDIC will ignore any trust beneficiary who would have an interest in the trust assets only after another living beneficiary dies.

The account title for a revocable trust account must include a term such as “payable on death,” “in trust for,” “living trust,” “family trust,” or similar language or an acronym (such as “POD” or “ITF”) to indicate the existence of a trust relationship. In addition, for POD accounts, the beneficiaries must be identified by name in the bank's account records.

The example below applies only to POD accounts. Deposit insurance coverage may be different for some living trusts. For more information on living trust accounts, refer to the FDIC resources on the back of this brochure.

Example:
Bill has a $100,000 POD account with his wife Sue as beneficiary. Sue has a $100,000 POD account with Bill as beneficiary. In addition, Bill and Sue jointly have a $600,000 POD account with their three children as beneficiaries.

Bill POD to Sue: $100,000 ($100,000 insured, $0 uninsured)
Sue POD to Bill: $100,000 ($100,000 insured, $0 uninsured)
Bill & Sue POD to 3 children: $600,000 ($600,000 insured, $0 uninsured)
Total: $800,000 ($800,000 insured, $0 uninsured)

These three accounts totaling $800,000 are fully insured because each owner is entitled to $100,000 of deposit insurance coverage per qualifying beneficiary. Bill has $400,000 of insurance coverage ($100,000 for each qualifying beneficiary – his wife and three children). Sue also has $400,000 of insurance coverage ($100,000 for each qualifying beneficiary – her husband and three children).

For More Information from the FDIC
Call toll-free at: 1-877-ASK-FDIC (1-877-275-3342) from 8 am until 8 pm (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday

Hearing Impaired Line: 1-800-925-4618

New deposit insurance publications online order form

For downloadable, camera-ready files of “Your Insured Deposit” and “Insuring Your Deposit,” visit “Reprintable FDIC Brochures” at www.fdic.gov, “About FDIC.”

Calculate your insurance coverage using the FDIC's online Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator at: www2.fdic.gov/edie

Request a copy of “Your Insured Deposits: FDIC's Guide to Deposit Insurance Coverage,” which provides a detailed description of the ownership categories, by calling toll free at: 1-877-275-3342

Read more about FDIC insurance online at: www.fdic.gov/deposit

Send your questions by e-mail using the FDIC's online Customer Assistance Form at: www2.fdic.gov/starsmail

Mail your questions to:
FDIC
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection
Attn: Deposit Insurance Outreach
550 17th Street, NW Washington, DC 20429-9990