Protect Yourself with Bank Records

[dollardaze]

It's important that all banking records be kept during these turbulent times. Consider the following tips to help ensure that your accounts will be safe if your banking institution should be one of those that ends up failing, as you accounts will need to be verified in order for your money to be restored to you.

With the failure of so many banking institutions and even credit unions, many people are not able to prove the amount of money that they had deposited into their accounts, so it is invaluable to you that you keep all statements, deposit records that you receive from your credit union, bank or financial institution.

Be sure that your deposit or share accounts are covered in full by insurance.
As of June 30, over $76 billion at credit unions nationally was not covered by federal insurance according to a spokesperson for theNational Credit Union Administration. You are able to check on the extent of your federal insurance coverage at MyFDICinsurance.gov for your banking accounts and savings institutions, and at NCUA.gov if you use a credit union. Both the FDIC and NCUA insure per depositer, and American Share Insurance insures per share account.

Some types of accounts are not covered by insurance, such as securities, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and also some annuities.

It is rare to find a bank or credit union that has no insurance, but it's important to know that there are some that have no insurance at all. There is a law on the books which make it mandatory for institutions to disclose that they have no federal insurance. Be sure to check the sites above for information.

Ask questions of your banking officials to be sure that responsible records are being kept. Find out how records are kept. You may consider asking your financial institution's regulator to inspect the record-keeping of your financial institution.

Consider attending any meetings that your financial institution may hold, so that you can keep abreast of their business decisions. Don't be afraid to ask questions to guard against the potential for money mismanagement by your bank, savings institution or credit union.

Check the limits of the institution's insurance coverage. The FDIC and NCUSIF (National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund), for example, typically only cover institution failures, not losses due to fraud.

[pennypinch]

I am so glad that you posted about this topic. You are quite right that we all need to be keeping track of all of our banking transactions because at this point none of know what is going to happen in the future, near or far. I will admit that I have a terrible habit of just ripping up my banking documents and tossing them out. Definitely not a good idea! I will get a folder from here on out to keep this all in order just in case.