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Comment by albatross13 | Hacker News Reader

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albatross13·

Probably a dumb question, but what determines if a deposit is insured or not at an FDIC insured bank?

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Deposits > $250k per depositor per bank are uninsured.

https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/faq/

Investment products are not FDIC insured; Accounts over 250k are not FDIC insured; In this case, that's probably the bulk of 'uninsured' - large accounts, or creatively sold investment products.

Investment products can (and often are) FINRA and SIPC insured - but this is NOT an insurance against loss (FDIC doesn't insure your interest, just the principal which changes each time interest is paid, the moment FDIC steps in your interest-earning can go to zero) - it is insurance that you actually own what the investment says it is.

So if you buy stock via Vanguard, and Vanguard mismanages itself into death, you still own the stock and eventually it'll be at another broker.

* Amount less than $250k * "Deposit Account" => not a "fancy investment interest account"

Details: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/

Not Covered: https://www.fdic.gov/resources/deposit-insurance/financial-p...

Not a dumb question at all. AFAIK it is the amount, in the USA it's $250K. Other countries have similar situations, most of the EU is 100K €.

Awesome, that makes sense. Thanks!

I'm not sure if this helps answer your question, but coverage is automatic if you have your funds in an FDIC insurance bank (most all of them) and if it's in a normal savings type account and then any amount 250k or less.

Up to 250k is insured, amounts beyond that are not.

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