The Definition of Aggregate Banking Deposits

When you deposit money at a banking institution you expect your money to be safe. At federally insured institutions, your money is safe up to certain deposit levels. The aggregate banking deposit is a calculation which determines if your money is federally insured from loss or can determine how much of your money is at risk with that financial institution.

For personal and business accounts the banking deposit aggregate is the total combined deposits, otherwise known as the current balance, for all deposit accounts. This includes checking, savings, money market deposit accounts, trust accounts and certificate of deposits. The total figure also includes the multiple account numbers. For example, if an individual has two separate checking accounts at the same financial institution, if account A has $3,000 and checking account B has $10,000 the aggregate for the banking deposit for that individual is $13,000 at that financial institution.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, is a federal governmental agency that insures the deposits of individuals placed at banking institutions. Credit Unions are protected by the National Credit Union Association. These entities protects these deposits from a banking institution failure. The FDIC and NCUA places an upper limits of protection for banking deposits as of 2011 at $250,000 for solely owned accounts and an additional $250,000 per co-owner. The banking aggregate from all deposit accounts at one institution counts against that number. For example, if an individual person has $125,000 on deposit with the banking institution, their money is 100 percent insured. If that same individual had $300,000 on deposit, $50,000 of their money is not insured.

Not all deposited money are FDIC or NCUA insured, even if the accounts were purchased from a federally insured institution. Items that are not FDIC and NCUA insured and therefore not considered as part of the banking aggregate deposits include stocks, mutual funds, bonds and annuities. These types of accounts are considered investment accounts which a financial loss is a risk. Therefore, these types of accounts are not insured.

The FDIC offers a calculator to determine the risk for both personal and business related accounts. The business calculator can be for all business structure types such as corporations and partnerships and other The Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator allows you to enter the balances of all your accounts to determine if your deposits are at risk. Once you have established your risk, to stay fully insured, move the money at risk to another federally insured institution where you do not exceed the FDIC or NCUA limits.

From December 31, 2010 until December 31, 2012 the FDIC will insure any deposit amount on non-interest bearing accounts at federally insured banking institutions. The FDIC is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The NCUA has made the same pledge to protect deposits during this timeframe.