Lots of people are concerned - not just about whether they can get their money if their bank fails, but when. That's why the first thing you hear when you call the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is this:
"If you're calling to find out how long the FDIC takes to pay insurance on deposits after an insured bank fails, press one. All other callers please hold on..."
But FDIC spokesman David Barr says most people needn't worry. When a bank fails, he says, checks can be in the mail as soon as the next business day. But these days it rarely comes to that.
Barr: "If the unfortunate circumstance happens and your bank gets into trouble, we mainly try to facilitate a merger with a larger institution. A bank is closed, say on a Friday, and on Monday morning it would reopen as a branch of a healthy institution."
The FDIC insures individual bank accounts up to $100,000. That amount can go as high as $1.1 million with other covered accounts.
Since the Depression, bank failures peaked during the1991 recession when 502 banks closed. One Ohio bank failed last year. Barr says banks are much stronger than a decade ago.
Barr "Ninety nine percent of the banks we insure fall into the well capitalized level. So banks are facing this downturn in the economy in a position of strength."
Not all financial institutions are insured, neither are all types of products in an insured bank. Most banks put their FDIC sticker on the door.
KH, 90.3