Effective immediately the federal reform law has permanently increased federal deposit insurance from $100,000 to $250,000. The $250,000 insurance coverage applies to each account category of a depositor per bank. The coverage ceiling was temporarily raised during the financial crisis back in October 2008 from $100,000 to $250,000. It had been scheduled to drop back down to $100,000 at the end of 2013. This law permanently increases the $250,000 coverage.This increase applies to each of four ownership account categories:
1.  Individual Accounts and
2.  Joint Accounts and
3.  Certain Trust Accounts and
4.  Retirement Accounts

To maximize FDIC coverage you can hold all four types of accounts at one bank. If you have multiple accounts at different branches of the same bank, the coverage is still limited to $250,000 for all of your bank accounts at the same bank. If you have different accounts at different banks, the $250,000 coverage applies to each separate bank. For example, if you have four checking accounts with $250,000 in four different banks, your total coverage is $1,000,000. If you have four checking accounts with $250,000 in four different branches of the same bank, your coverage is limited to $250,000.

With respect to joint accounts, each joint account owner is separately covered for up to $250,000. For example, if you have a joint checking account at one bank with a $500,000 balance, each owner will be covered up to $250,000.