FDIC Raises Retirement Account Protection To $250,000

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Board of Directors has approved final rules that will raise the deposit insurance coverage on certain retirement accounts at a bank or savings institution to $250,000 from $100,000. The increase, the result of a new law boosting federal deposit insurance coverage for the first time in more than 25 years, will become effective on April 1. The basic insurance coverage for other deposit accounts, however, will remain at $100,000.

"The increase in deposit insurance coverage on certain retirement accounts is a significant change," said Martin J. Gruenberg, Acting Chairman of the FDIC. "The FDIC is committed to helping depositors understand clearly the change that has been made and how it will affect the deposit insurance coverage for which they are eligible."

Under the FDIC's new rules, up to $250,000 in deposit insurance will be provided for the money a consumer has in a variety of retirement accounts, primarily traditional and Roth IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts), at one insured institution. Also included are self-directed Keogh accounts, "457 Plan" accounts for state government employees, and employer-sponsored "defined contribution plan" accounts that are self-directed, which are primarily 401(k) accounts. In general, self-directed means the consumer chooses how and where the money is deposited.
In addition, the IRAs and other retirement accounts that will be protected under the new rules to $250,000 are insured separately from other accounts at the same institution that will continue to be insured up to at least $100,000.

The new law also established a method by which the FDIC would consider an increase in the insurance limits on all deposit accounts (including retirement accounts) in the future, but only every five years starting in 2011. Any such increase would be based, in part, on inflation. Otherwise, accounts will continue to be insured as described above.

posted by Consumer Help Web Editorial Team at 11:32 AM |