When economic news is troubling, people naturally become more worried about financial institutions and whether or not money stored in them is safe. In the USA, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures deposits up to a set limit, but only for member institutions. How can one ensure that their money is safe? Here are some resources you may wish to visit:

* The FDIC's main website displays detailed information about the independent agency. Resources are provided for banks, consumers, analysts, investors, the press, and contractors. FDIC information is available in English and in Spanish.

* One useful application on the FDIC's site is the "Bank Find" tool. With this you can enter a bank's name, address, city, state, and/or zip code, and determine whether or not it actually is FDIC-insured. Be sure to read this report carefully - you may see similar bank names to yours listed as "inactive", but that bank may have changed its name to a bank that is now "active".

* myFDICinsurance.gov, a national public service campaign featuring Suze Orman, links you directly with the FDIC's Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator (EDIE) tool. With this application, you can determine if the money you have saved in FDIC-insured banks is partially or fully protected.

With the EDIE, for each account you hold, enter the institution name, a nickname for the account, the account balance, the ownership type, and the owner name. You can then calculate how much money is insured by the FDIC.

* FDIC - http://www.fdic.gov/

* FDIC Bank Find - http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main_bankfind.asp

* myFDICinsurance.gov - http://www.myfdicinsurance.gov/

* FDIC Website Policies and Disclaimer - http://www.fdic.gov/about/policies/index.html

Please note that information in the above external links is provided by the FDIC, which is solely responsible for its content.

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