FDIC insurance protects eligible deposits when an insured bank fails. The standard coverage limit is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. Each part of that sentence matters. The limit applies to the owner, the banking institution, and the legal category of ownership together. FDIC coverage rules
Understanding that structure helps answer a common question: does opening another account provide more insurance? Sometimes the ownership category changes the answer. Simply adding another savings account at the same bank usually does not.
Start with the type of product
The FDIC covers eligible deposit products at insured banks. It does not insure an investment merely because a bank sold it or because it appears alongside bank accounts on a website.
| Product | FDIC deposit coverage at an insured bank |
|---|---|
| Checking account | Covered, subject to ownership rules and limits |
| Savings account | Covered, subject to ownership rules and limits |
| Money market deposit account | Covered, subject to ownership rules and limits |
| Certificate of deposit, or CD | Covered, subject to ownership rules and limits |
| Stocks, bonds, or mutual funds | Outside FDIC deposit coverage |
| Crypto assets | Outside FDIC deposit coverage |
The FDIC's brochure lists these covered and excluded products. It also explains that coverage includes the deposit principal and accrued interest through the bank's closing date, up to the applicable insurance limit.
A money market deposit account belongs on the deposit side of this distinction. A money market mutual fund is an investment. Similar names do not give the products the same protection.
Understand how accounts are added together
For accounts owned by an individual in the single-account category, the FDIC combines that person's eligible deposits at the same insured bank. Checking, savings, and CDs can therefore share the same coverage limit.
Giving accounts different nicknames does not create different ownership categories. An emergency fund and a vacation account may serve separate purposes in a budget while still being combined for insurance.
The FDIC also says deposits at separate branches of the same insured bank are not separately insured. A different street address or account-opening location does not make the institution a different bank.
