FDIC and NCUA protects who?

[Dale Osborn]

Just who does the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) protect? Everyone feels it is their own savings that is being protected. Not so! The FDIC is actually set up to protect the BIG BANKS from going Bankrupt! Bank of America and CitiGroup and others have a direct line to the US Treasury to keep them operational no matter how badly they mismanage their operations. At one time your account was supposed to be protected up to $100K now due to the devaluation of the US Dollar - they have changed the value to $250K. With all the money they have printed recently, perhaps they should move the level to $1M.

[Kevin Yeats]

First, this topic is waaaaaaaaay too complex to adequately discuss here. Many academicians have extensively studied and authored articles discussing the workings and failings of the US deposit insurance system. Look up some of these studies.

Second, in this decade 338 banks have failed including some sizeable ones. This is not even a record decade for bank failures under the FDIC.

Total losses by insured depositors $0 - zero, nothing, the big goose egg.

Bank Shareholders lost money in bank failures. Debtholders lost money too. Some uninsured depositors lost some money.

By the way, in recent decades the deposit insurance limit was $40,000. I believe the limit was raised to $100,000 in the late 70s or early 80s.

If I read between the lines correctly, the OP's issue is the mismanagement at the FDIC. I would characterize this a misdirected mission (as set in law).

I concur and again direct you to the above mentioned academics and their studies especially their recommendations for reform.

If you are worried about losing money placed on deposits at banks, you can always hold cash.