The ultimate nightmare for a bank customer is to have uninsured funds in a failed bank.  Depositor losses at FDIC insured institutions occur more frequently than most people realize. Twice already in 2011, depositors at two failed banks have lost money on uninsured deposits.  When a bank fails, the FDIC as receiver, will typically find a buyer for the failed bank and all deposits [...]

January 21, 2011 -Enterprise Banking Company, McDonough, GA was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance which named the FDIC as receiver.  The FDIC was unable to find a buyer for Enterprise Banking.  To protect insured depositors, the FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of McDonough (DINB) to take over the operations of Enterprise Banking. When [...]

October 6, 2010 – The sudden news that your bank just failed can cause justifiable confusion and anxiety.  Typically the issues of primary importance to depositors will be “are my savings at risk and how long will it be before I have access to my money”. In addition to these primary concerns, depositors of failed banks also need to know about the status of certificates [...]

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama on July 21, 2010, permanently increases the deposit insurance limit to a maximum of $250,000. Deposit insurance limits had previously been temporarily increased from $100,000 to $250,000 effective from October 3, 2008, through December 31, 2010.  The higher insurance coverage applies [...]

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the federal agency in charge of safeguarding the nation’s bank deposits, maintains a confidential Problem Bank List. This list contains the names of institutions that have weak capital positions caused by large loan losses or operational deficiencies that usually lead to failure.  The FDIC does not publicize the list for fear of causing [...]

June 17, 2010 – Lawmakers have agreed to make permanent the temporary increase on depositor insurance by the FDIC.   To avoid depositor panic during the height of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, the government temporarily increased deposit insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000.   The increased deposit insurance was due to expire on December 31, 2013 The US [...]

Banking Failures in Florida, Illinois, Maryland and Utah Bring 2010 Total To 26 The weekly banking failures continue as regulators closed four more failed banks.   The four failed banks for March 5, 2010 had total assets of $1.1 billion and total deposits of $1.0 billion.  The cost to the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) for this week’s banking failures  is estimated at $305 [...]

Depositor Losses At Barnes Banking Unknown On Friday, January 15, 2010, Barnes Banking Company was closed by the Utah Department of Financial Institutions which appointed the FDIC as receiver.  Since no other institution could be found to assume the assets or deposits of failed Barnes Banking, the FDIC set up a Deposit Insurance National Bank (DINB) to protect depositors.   At [...]