On May 20, 2009, President Obama signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. Included in the legislation was a provision that postpones until January 1, 2014 the expiration of the $250,000 limit on Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) insurance for bank deposit accounts. The limit was raised in 2008 from $100,000 per depositor at a given institution, and had been scheduled to revert to the previous $100,000 limit on December 31, 2009.
The legislation covers all account categories other than: (1) IRAs and certain other retirement accounts, which will continue to be covered up to $250,000 per owner after January 1, 2014, and (2) non-interest bearing transaction deposit accounts, which temporarily have unlimited coverage and are insured under the Transaction Account Guarantee Program, which is still scheduled to expire after December 31, 2009.
The Act also extended to January 1, 2014 the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund’s $250,000 share insurance coverage of accounts at credit unions.