Are Online Banks FDIC Insured?
All online banks are able to be FDIC insured but that doesn’t mean that all banks are FDIC insured. High yield savings accounts at online banks aren’t any different than savings accounts at traditional brick and mortar banks, they are subject to the same rules and regulations of banks and thus are able to be FDIC insured.
Does that mean they’re all insured because they’re a bank? No. Just as you would any regular bank, you should always check that the bank is FDIC insured by using the FDIC’s Bank Find tool. A bank isn’t insured unless it’s listed in the FDIC Bank Find tool and has a certificate number.
For example, if you were looking for HSBC Direct, you wouldn’t find it under “HSBC Direct.” To find the official name, visit the website and look for it, usually at the bottom. On HSBC Direct’s homepage you will see this:
Issued by HSBC Bank USA, N.A. ©2008 HSBC Bank USA, N.A. All Rights Reserved.
That means you’ll want to find HSBC Bank USA in FDIC Bank Find, I just put in HSBC and found several hits, only one of which was “HSBC BANK USA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION.” It’s located in Delaware and the FDIC Insurance certificate was #57890. You can click on the name for more information including office locations, main website, etc.
Too bad there isn’t anyway to search by certificate number, that would be a nice addition.