About Those Bank Assurances

FDIC reserves dwindle fast

When a bank fails, the FDIC pays up to $250,000 to each account-holder to replace whatever money does not remain in the vaults. The fund is replenished by assessments on banks, but over the last year, much more money left than arrived. And the pace of bank failures continues to increase.

The fund held $52.4 billion at the beginning of 2008. One year and 25 bank failures later, the fund held $18.9 billion.

So far this year, 14 banks have failed, draining another $1.7 billion from the insurance fund.