How To Avoid Being Victimized By Bank Failures: AP

The recent failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which catered mostly to the tech industry, should teach depositors how to see signs of trouble and be creative in opening multiple accounts with deposits no bigger than $250,000, which is the maximum amount covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Adriana Morga reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Depositors must see to it that their banks are covered by FDIC.

But then, depositors must see to it that their banks are covered by FDIC.

If you have over $250,000 in an individual account, which most people don’t, the amount over $250,000 is considered uninsured and experts recommend that you move the remainder of your money to a different financial institution, said Caleb Silver, editor-in-chief of Investopedia, a financial media website.

Joint accounts are insured up to $500,000. Credit unions are insured by the National Credit Union Administration, Ken Sweet also reported for AP.

If you are worried about your bank closing in the near future, there are some things you can watch out for, according to Silver: Watch the stock price of your bank; keep an eye on the quarterly and annual reports from your bank, and; start a Google alert for your bank in case there are news stories about it. You want to make sure you pay close attention to the way your bank is behaving, Silver said.

“If they’re trying to raise money through a share offering or if they’re trying to sell more stock, they might have trouble on their balance sheet,” said Silver.

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