Is the $250,000 FDIC Insurance Figure Actually in a Regulation?

Yes. The $250,000 figure is written into 12 CFR § 330.1, which defines it as the “Standard maximum deposit insurance amount” (SMDIA) and points to a Federal Deposit Insurance Act adjustment provision. Separately, the FDIC’s own consumer-facing page restates the same $250,000 figure in plain terms, but that page does not itself cite Part 330.

This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.

Key points

• 12 CFR § 330.1 is the regulation that names and defines the SMDIA as $250,000 (12 CFR § 330.1).
• The regulation’s own text ties the stated amount to a specific provision of the FDI Act (12 CFR § 330.1).
• The FDIC’s consumer-facing “Understanding Deposit Insurance” page states the same $250,000 figure, described as per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, per ownership category (FDIC).
• That consumer page does not cite 12 CFR Part 330 on the page — the regulation and the consumer explanation are two separate documents that agree on the number (12 CFR § 330.1; FDIC).
• Neither source calculates how much any individual reader’s money is actually covered.

What the regulation itself says

The operative text of the regulation reads:

“Standard maximum deposit insurance amount,” referred to as the “SMDIA” hereafter, means $250,000 adjusted pursuant to subparagraph (F) of section 11(a)(1) of the FDI Act (12 U.S.C. 1821(a)(1)(F)).“ — 12 CFR § 330.1

Two things follow directly from that sentence. First, $250,000 is not just a policy or a webpage figure — it is the number the regulation itself names as the current SMDIA. Second, the regulation does not treat $250,000 as permanently fixed by its own text; it points to a specific statutory adjustment provision, section 11(a)(1)(F) of the FDI Act, as the mechanism through which the figure could change. The regulation does not say how often that adjustment provision has been or will be invoked, or what a future adjusted figure would be — only that the $250,000 amount is the current SMDIA “adjusted pursuant to” that statutory subsection.

What the FDIC’s consumer page says

Separately from the regulation, the FDIC publishes a plain-language explanation for depositors:

“FDIC deposit insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, for each account ownership category.” — FDIC, Understanding Deposit Insurance

That page carries a “Last Updated: April 1, 2024” notice. The consumer page restates the same dollar amount as the regulation, framed around the three variables it names — depositor, bank, and ownership category.

Where the sources agree

The regulation and the consumer page agree on the number: $250,000. That is the extent of the direct link this article draws between them. The consumer page, as verified here, does not itself cite or reference 12 CFR Part 330 anywhere in its text — so a reader who wants to trace the $250,000 figure on the consumer page back to its regulatory definition has to go find the regulation separately, as this article does; the consumer page does not do that pointing itself.

What this article does not answer

This article confirms that $250,000 is a defined regulatory term, not that any individual reader is covered up to that amount in their own accounts. Applying the FDIC’s ownership-category rules to a specific set of accounts — checking, savings, joint, trust, retirement, and the other categories the FDIC recognizes — is account-structuring guidance that depends on how a reader’s money is actually titled at their bank, and that determination is outside what either source verified here settles.

Finally, this article makes no recommendation about which bank to use, how many accounts to open, or how to split money across ownership categories — those are individual financial decisions the two sources referenced here do not make for a reader.

Source links

• eCFR — 12 CFR § 330.1 Definitions (SMDIA)
• FDIC — Understanding Deposit Insurance