Washington State Department of Financial Institutions

Are My Deposits Safe?

Temporary Increase In Deposit and Share Insurance Coverage

Update: On October 03, 2008 President Bush signed into law the emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Section 136 of the law provides for a temporary increase in deposit and share insurance coverage.

Section 136: Raises the FDIC and the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund deposit insurance limits from $100,000 per account to $250,000 until December 31, 2009. Temporarily raises the borrowing limits at the Treasury for the FDIC and the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.

Banks and credit unions doing business in Washington State have federal deposit insurance through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for banks and the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for credit unions. The NCUA's deposit insurance is called the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF).

A Message from DFI Director Scott Jarvis

Recent events in our financial markets have received broad media coverage throughout our communities. Unfortunately, the failure of several large national financial institutions have consumers questioning the stability of the financial services industry, their local bank and the solvency of the FDIC insurance fund.

In times such as these when emotions run high, it is important to stand back and take stock in the facts of the situation, as well as the difficulties they involve.

View Message from DFI Director Scott Jarvis

Basic Deposit Insurance Coverage For Banks & Credit Unions

In general, the FDIC and NCUSIF provide depositors with $250,000* in coverage for their individual deposit accounts.

* On October 03, 2008 President Bush signed into law the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Section 136 of the law temporarily raises insurance limits to $250,000 until December 31, 2009.

These accounts include:

Individuals with account balances totaling less than $250,000 at the same insured bank or credit union have full FDIC (for banks) or full NCUSIF (for credit unions) coverage.

Retirement Accounts

Certain retirement accounts, such as Individual Retirement Accounts, are insured up to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank or per insured credit union.

More Information:

Additional Deposit Insurance Coverage For Deposits

If you have more than $250,000* in an individual bank or a individual credit union, you may want to use the FDIC guide (for bank deposits) available at http://www.fdic.gov/edie/ or the NCUSIF estimator (for credit union deposits) available at http://webapps.ncua.gov/ins/.

Additional insurance coverage is available based on rules from the FDIC or NCUA regarding retirement accounts and other types of accounts, such as trust accounts.

You should also contact your bank or credit union to discuss deposit insurance coverage in excess of $250,000* per individual.

* On October 03, 2008 President Bush signed into law the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. Section 136 of the law temporarily raises insurance limits to $250,000 until December 31, 2009.

Deposit Insurance Estimators

The FDIC and NCUA both have online estimators that will help you calculate insurance coverage.

Financial Statements For Your Bank Or Credit Union

If you are curious about the financial health of your bank or credit union, quarterly financial statements are posted on the FDIC and NCUA Web sites.

Frequently Asked Questions

Resources

Questions? Contact DFI

If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

Washington Department of Financial Institutions
Phone: (360) 902-8700
Toll-Free: 1-877-746-4334
TDD: (360) 664-8126

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