The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent federal agency. It was created in 1933 to protect people against the loss of their deposits if an FDIC-insured bank or savings association fails.

What it means is that up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution is protected by the economic power of the federal government. The term you’ll hear is “full faith and credit,” which basically means if a bank fails or is about to fail, the FDIC will make sure that people who put money into the bank can get it back out, up to $250,000.

Since the FDIC was instituted nearly 100 years ago, not one depositor has lost a single cent of insured funds. It truly is a way of keeping money in the hands of a community.