WaMu taken over by FDIC last night...

[Magnum]

I could be wrong here, but I think there is some crossed info. The FDIC insures deposits up to $100K per account holder[s]. I think they insure based off the SSN.

Meaning:

If you and your wife have 2 accounts, both accounts in both names [joint], 1 of those accounts are insured while the other is not.

No lets say you and your wife have 1 joint account, and 1 account in just here name then they are ALL insured because your SSN would be the primary on the joint account and hers o the other.

The best way to have joint accounts insured is to have accounts at multiple banks or credit unions.

This is directly from the FDIC's web site:

How much insurance coverage does the FDIC provide?
The basic insurance amount is $100,000 per depositor, per insured bank.
The $100,000 amount applies to all depositors of an insured bank except for owners of certain retirement accounts, which are insured up to $250,000 per owner, per insured bank.

Deposits in separate branches of an insured bank are not separately insured. Deposits in one insured bank are insured separately from deposits in another insured bank.

Deposits maintained in different categories of legal ownership at the same bank can be separately insured. Therefore, it is possible to have deposits of more than $100,000 at one insured bank and still be fully insured.
The following sections describe the eight ownership categories recognized by FDIC regulations and the requirements that must be met to have coverage beyond the basic $100,000 insurance amount.

Read this story, ah bummer.....:

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=9021326


This is from money blue book:

How Does FDIC Insurance Keep Our Bank Accounts and Deposit Money Safe?

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a federal government run entity that provides deposit insurance protection for participating member banks - guaranteeing their deposit accounts from loss. The FDIC system was set up to instill consumer confidence in our nation’s banking system during a time of severe economic recession and financial turmoil. To prevent massive runs on banks triggered by irrational consumer panic to withdraw money during times of crisis, the United States government set up the FDIC to guarantee depositors at insured banks that their money would always be safe, even during the worst of times.

As a general rule of thumb, the current FDIC insured amount per depositor at each bank is $100,000 (with extra exceptions for different ownership categories). This blanket protection insures member bank accounts frombank failure loss, up to the maximum insured amount of $100,000. The FDIC protection covers a variety of bank deposits, including - checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificate of deposits (CD’s), and even bank money orders and cashier’s checks.

However, the FDIC protection does not cover non bank deposit type accounts and assets like - stocks, bonds, mutual fund investments, variable or fixed annuities, U.S. Treasury securities, or contents stored in safe deposit boxes. As FDIC insurance only covers bank failure loss, it also does not provide protection against bank fire, fraud, or theft, although in the overwhelming majority of cases, individual banks usually have their own private hazard and casualty insurance coverage against these other types of loss.

The FDIC also provides loss protection for retirement accounts held in member banks in the form of deposits. The FDIC limit for retirement accounts, which includes self directed plans like Roth IRA’s, Traditional IRA’s, SEP’s, and Keogh’s, currently stands at - $250,000. The higher FDIC limit for retirement accounts is a clear recognition by the FDIC of the importance of ensuring that consumers always have their retirement nest eggs to fall back on.