Money Blue Book

After two decades at the same coverage limit, the U.S. government has finally stopped dragging its knuckles and raised the FDIC insured limit for bank deposits from the previous FDIC limit of $100,000 – up  to the new limit of $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank. For your average bank customer, this means that he or she will now receive full FDIC insurance coverage up to $250,000 for the total sum of their single accounts (checking, savings, and CD deposits) at each banking institution. Other account category types like joint accounts and trust accounts will also each enjoy separate increased $250,000 limits at each bank. However, retirement accounts held by banks as FDIC insured deposits will remain at the previous $250,000 limit.

For those who don’t know, the FDIC stands for the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a federally run government organization that protects bank customers from the loss of their deposits in the event of a catastrophic FDIC-insured bank failure. The protection afforded by FDIC insurance is near iron-clad as it is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. There is no need for bank depositors to apply for FDIC insurance or even to request it as coverage is automatic. Below are the new and current FDIC insurance coverage limits for deposits at FDIC insured member banks. The new FDIC limits are effective starting October 3, 2008 and tentatively scheduled to expire on December 31, 2009. While the FDIC does not directly cover deposits held in credit union institutions, in response to the new FDIC limits, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, or NCUSIF, has raised credit union insurance limits up to $250,000 through Dec. 31, 2009 as well.

Although the newly enacted FDIC insurance limits are slated to end at the end of 2009, I predict that Congress will more likely than not make the new coverage limits permanent after that time. Frankly, in light of the current financial crisis and deteriorating consumer confidence sentiment regarding the safety and security of our nation’s banks and credit unions, there is no reason the U.S. government should not allow the new FDIC limits to stay permanent.

The New Increase In FDIC Insurance Coverage For All FDIC Insured Deposits Will Help Improve Consumer Confidence In The Banking System

With the passage of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the U.S. Congress has agreed to increase the previous FDIC insured limit of $100,000 by 150% to $250,000 through the end of next year until the last day of 2009. For those who argue that the new boost in FDIC insurance coverage is unnecessary and too high, keep in mind that after factoring in the effects of inflation since it was last increased in 1980, the current FDIC insured increase is perfectly in line with inflationary reality. Besides, desperate financial times require desperate measures. The U.S. and world economies are faltering and the major banking institutions are struggling to stay afloat during this terrible credit crisis. While the FDIC insured limit increase probably won’t have a direct effect on the credit crunch (I hate this phrase but everyone uses it) as the main problem in the banking sector is that banks are refusing to lend to each other rather than suffering from a direct shortage of bank deposits, having a higher limit will probably go a long way in instilling consumer confidence in the U.S. banking system again. In the long run, this should have a positive and stabilizing ripple effect on the economy at large.

Personally, I’ve been rather active lately in my banking transactions, opening new high yield savings accounts with the top online banks and shifting money around to make sure every single cent of my cash deposits are fully protected under the FDIC limits. As many concerned consumers have been doing, I have been seeking the shelter and safety of bank deposits during this time of financial and economic turmoil. As a small business owner I tend to carry around significant amounts of cash for payroll, accounting, and business investment purposes – much more than the usual consumer account holder. To ensure full FDIC protection for my bank deposits in excess of $100,000, I’ve been spreading cash around among multiple banks to increase my FDIC coverage limits by setting up separate single and joint accounts to take advantage of the separate FDIC coverage for each account category.

The new FDIC limit increase will allow consumers to keep more of their money at the same banking institution without having to scramble around desperately looking for other FDIC insured banking options to spread their funds around. While bank failures remain extremely rare, with the recent collapse of major banking institutions like IndyMac and Washington Mutual, the occurrence and possibility of such a reality has become all too real. The recent decision by the U.S. Congress to raise the FDIC limit on an emergency basis was long overdue and necessary to calm the public’s worry and reduce the number of irrational actions taken by those fearful of losing their money or investments. Ultimately the decision will help put a stop to the massive waves of bank withdraws due to panicky customers pulling their money out of banks in response to irrational concerns. The new FDIC insured limit will help prevent such desperate monetary runs on the banks and allow the banking system to continue operating as normal.

However, The New FDIC Coverage Increase Will Not Result In Higher Interest Yields Or Financially Affect The Vast Majority Of Banking Customers

While the new FDIC limit increase should help boost consumer confidence in banks and credit unions, and help stem some of the panic and fear in the marketplace, most consumers are unlikely to experience much of a difference. It’s mostly the wealthier individuals or small businesses who carry around significant amounts of cash in their checking or savings accounts that are likely to directly appreciate the new FDIC insurance cap. The great majority of average everyday banking customers do not have more than $100,000 in a single bank account anyway.

Furthermore, those who are hoping to see higher interest rates or yields on their high interest savings accounts or certificate of deposits (CD’s) will be sorely disappointed. There is a very real likelihood that as the perceived confidence in our banks goes up, the interest rate expectations may go down. Because the FDIC is financed through premiums paid by FDIC member banks, participating banks are obligated to pay periodic premiums for FDIC insurance coverage. As such, there is a high inevitable possibility that they may eventually have to pay more in the way of FDIC premiums for the new higher insurance coverage limits. With higher FDIC premiums to contend with, banks may ultimately pass on the cost to consumers by offering lower interest rates for their deposits.

In a move that probably will benefit smaller local and community banks more than the mega “too big to fail” banking giants like Citibank, Bank of America, or JP Morgan Chase, the new financial bailout plan also provides for unlimited FDIC insurance coverage for certain accounts. Banking customers of FDIC insured banks will receive unlimited insurance for money deposited into non-interest bearing accounts, a protection that primarily benefits small and mid size businesses that have bank deposits exceeding the new insured maximum of $250,000. This temporary, but extendable unlimited protection was enacted to stabilize business risk, and prevent the type of loss faced by many businesses when a bank or thrift savings institution failed. Under this temporary unlimited FDIC insurance plan for non interest bearing bank accounts, a typical small business will be able to keep $250,000 worth of interest bearing funds in a regular checking, savings, or CD account, and put the remainder in zero interest accounts for unlimited FDIC insurance coverage. Under the bailout plan, for the first 30 days of the program, all FDIC insured banks will enjoy this unlimited FDIC protection for their non-interest bearing bank deposits. After that, member banks must opt-out of the program if they no longer wish to offer this unlimited protection.

Whether we want to acknowledge the grim reality or not, the vast majority of the American public is undergoing a mental crisis at the moment during this difficult period of economic recession and housing depression. Indeed, this economic slowdown is causing many Americans to struggle financially, and the series of collapses of major commercial banks and investment brokers have led to a domino effect of pink slip closures and layoffs. With the bailout of major global insurance conglomerate AIG and the takeover of mortgage loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by the spend-happy federal government using taxpayer money, significant numbers of shareholders and stakeholders have been financially wiped out in the process. Collapsing under the weight of bad mortgage debts and the loss of value in their subprime mortgage loans, major mortgage lenders like Countrywide and investment brokerage banks like Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers have had to engage in significant write offs and ultimately put themselves up for sale at bargain basement discounts.

With the FDIC shutdown of major thrifts and banks like IndyMac and Washington Mutual, as well as the shakeup at Wachovia, even historically secure commercial banks are starting to feel the credit crunch squeeze. With the recent bank safety scares hitting Wall Street and now Main Street, bank deposit customers have been sent reeling and scrambling to check FDIC insurance coverage limits – calling their banks to arrange their affairs for sufficient coverage. When FDIC insured bank consumers are feeling uncertain and fearful, you know the confidence of the American people in their banking and credit systems have been significantly shaken. Many people have been left unable to sleep soundly at night, as lingering concerns of bank safety and security have paralyzed the American economy and investment psyche. So what’s a savvy investor and account depositor to do in this brave new world of financial bailouts and bank closures?

To Survive The Credit Crunch, Financial Crisis, and Housing Market Collapse – Seek Out Security, Stay Optimistic, and Look For Opportunities

Without a doubt, the financial, stock, and housing markets remain volatile as the subprime mess has paralyzed lenders, halting the once liquid credit markets. However, whatever you do, it’s best to avoid the “irrational exuberance” (quoting former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan’s catch phrase) and stay clear of the overly extreme sentiments of certain doom and gloom naysayers. Remember, the economy will survive and the financial system will be repaired in due time – have a little faith.

Take our current energy crisis and oil supply depletion situation for example. Yes, it’s true the world’s supply of crude oil is steadily dwindling and gas prices have skyrocketed recently – however this doesn’t mean the world is going to come to a screaming halt as supply of our beloved dinosaur juice runs low. Even now, the American and world governments are actively advocating and promoting the advancement of new alternative fuels and alternative power sources such as nuclear, clean coal technology, solar, wind, and all types of clean, green energy. Society is infinitely resilient in the long haul and will adapt to changing times and life will go on as usual. Whatever you do, don’t resort to taking up ridiculous survivalist activities such as building a bunker, withdrawing all of your money from banks, giving up credit card usage, or stocking up on food, guns, toilet paper, and supplies to ride out some silly apocalyptic fantasy future that you irrationally conjure up. Unless you are already doing so, there is no need to start making plans to live off the land, move onto homesteads, and start milking your own cows because you anticipate the need to defend your community from the hordes of starving crowds who did not prepare for the supposed eventuality. The world as we know it will not disappear, so discard those wacky conspiracy theories and economic Armageddon notions immediately. Don’t be a nut. Instead, starting planning for a brighter financial future today for yourself and your family by making smart banking and wealth investment decisions for the long haul. When this economic malaise blows over in a few years or even in a decade, your smart financial steps today will reap dividends in spades. It’s during tough economic times that counter-intuitive minded investors profit in the long run, and it’s how future millionaires get made.

Despite the current market sentiment, I strongly advocate long term investors to not overlook continued portfolio diversification opportunities in the stock market through mutual funds and indexes, and to not neglect true long term bargains in real estate and housing. The age old truism and expression in the world of investing is true – that the greater the risk, the greater the return. This mantra is also strongly tempered by another financial axiom of billionaire investor Warren Buffet and his views on the interplay between investment fear and greed – that the smart investor should seek to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful. It’s how savvy long term investors ultimately pay off in their steadfast investment decisions today. In fact, Warren Buffet, who has successfully made billions of dollars by taking advantage of opportunities during the worst of times, has been actively practicing what he preaches, buying up significant value minded investment positions in severely beat down companies like Wall Street investment giant Goldman Sachs for $5 billion and forking over $3 billion for positions in mega technology services provider General Electric. Of course, during these turbulent economic times and periods of extreme stock market volatility, it’s best not to be overly emotional or make hasty decisions based on short term swings. The world is filled with chicken littles and emotional lemmings so it’s all too easy too succumb to hysteria and Street panic. But those who want to survive this economic downturn and emerge from the recession and credit crisis in stronger financial positions than before must maintain their wits and stay focused for the long term, spreading their financial wealth around through diversified investments and continuing to seek out potential opportunities.

But there is a caveat for this long term sentiment. While I personally have 2-3 decades to go before I need to hatch my retirement nest egg, with plenty of time to build up long term investment positions, as well as continuous steady income coming in to continue dollar cost average investing and taking advantage of interest compounding, not everyone is in a similar position. For many millions of people, the money they have at this present time is all the significant amount of money they will ever have and at their age and current stage in life, they simply can’t afford to risk further loss. These types of individuals are focused on asset preservation rather than opportunistic investing and thus for these investors, they need investment security and deposit safety today. For some, it’s also the need to preserve their cash from loss due to the fact they are close to retirement, or saving up for a specific upcoming expense such as a down payment for a new home. Or perhaps they need to maintain a stash of cash to give them confidence and financial safety net courage to continue investing for the long term, while weathering financial emergencies.

For the asset preservation types who want to ensure their current deposits and investments are shielded from bank failures and investment loss, safety is the paramount concern when it comes to selecting the securest place to put their money. But for the conservative types, they also desire a certain degree of liquidity and convenient access to their money. But with the diminished risk of loss at safer places like bank savings and money market accounts comes substantially lower rates of return. Such deposit and investment sources as the ones listed below will offer you more security for your money, but they will not earn you a lot of interest, and oftentimes will just barely keep up with inflation. Keep that in mind as you evaluate your options and perform your due diligence. Furthermore, while being cautious and putting your money into safe and secure investments will preserve you from drops in the stock and financial markets, you run the very real risk of missing out on major market rebounds and valuable long term opportunities.

For those determined to ride out the volatile economic storm by seeking safety, the following options are the best choices when it comes to answering this question – “what is the safest investment for my money to avoid the risk of loss?”

List Of The Safest and Most Secure Places To Save and Invest Your Money During A Recession Or Economic Crisis:

1) Bank Savings and Checking Accounts – Of all the ideal places to store your money during the worst of times, other than in U.S. Treasuries, the best place is in a traditional bank account. While the rate of interest return on bank account deposits will never beat the long term rate of return on a properly diversified stock portfolio, depositing your cash in something like a high yield savings account is the easiest and most practical solution for those worried about the safety and security of their money. For those searching for the best high yield savings accounts offering the highest annual percentage yield (APY) interest rates, here are the best online savings banks out there (all of the following recommended high interest banks are fully FDIC insured, and all account deposits are protected under the FDIC insurance coverage limits):

1. FNBO Direct – 3.50% APY
2. WT Direct – 3.31% APY
   
3. E-Trade Savings – 3.30% APY
4. HSBC Direct – 3.25% APY
   
5. ING Direct – 3.00% APY

In terms of safety, reliability, and liquidity, putting your money in a bank account is the easiest and most straight forward savings option. Not only is your bank deposit earning interest, it’s FDIC insured and easily accessible. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a federal government run enterprise that provides insurance coverage and protection for the deposit accounts of participating member banks, guaranteeing their insured accounts from unexpected loss. While FDIC insurance coverage limits vary depending on the number and type of account ownership categories you have at each bank, the rule of thumb to remember is that for each individual, the FDIC protects up to $100,000 in deposits at each banking institution for each ownership category. This means that at each FDIC member banking institution such as Citibank or Bank of America for example, each individual may be insured up to $100,000 for a single account and get additional coverage – like a separate $100,000 coverage limit for a joint account with his or her spouse. Furthermore, for retirement accounts like IRA’s, Roth’s, SEP’s, and Keogh’s held in a member bank in the form of a bank deposit (as opposed to something like a mutual fund), there is also an extra but separate $250,000 FDIC insurance coverage limit.

While skeptical investors and chicken little depositors might cite the recent failures of major commercial banks and thrifts like IndyMac and Washington Mutual as reasons to be wary of the safety of commercial banks, the reality is that in all of the recent bank failure scenarios, all of the FDIC insured deposit accounts that fell within the coverage limits were fully protected from loss. Even amidst the current mortgage crisis and credit crunch, the great majority of commercial banks are considered well capitalized. The possibility of a bank failure and the probability of a sudden FDIC takeover is extremely remote. However, even in the event that a bank does happen to fail, consumers would continue to enjoy uninterrupted and easy access to their FDIC insured bank money.

It is also interesting to note that since the FDIC was established three quarters of a century ago after the Great Depression, no banking customer has ever lost a single penny of their FDIC insured deposit at any failed bank. Your commercial bank may go out of business or suddenly be unable to continue operating as a viable banking institution, but Uncle Sam, bolstered by the virtually unlimited financial resources of the federal government will back up your money in full, up to the guaranteed FDIC insurance coverage limit. Even in the event that allotted FDIC funds become tapped out, the federal government can always authorize itself and the U.S. Mint to print emergency money. It is almost inconceivable to me to even fathom the possibility of the FDIC failing or the FDIC funds to somehow go bankrupt. Such a dire failure would probably require that the United States federal government suddenly cease to exist or be in such horrible shape that losing your checking or savings account deposit would probably be the least of your concerns. At that point of Armageddon, you’d probably be better off investing your remaining money in guns, canned food, and a nuclear fallout bunker. There is a reason why the whole world turns to the U.S. for economic, political, and militarial stability and guidance – we have the most powerful, tried and true system in the world. It’s not perfect, but it’s extremely resilient and will ultimately overcome struggles in the long run.

2) Laddered Bank CD’s – While putting your money in a high interest savings account is your best bet in terms of account safety and liquidity, those who seek a slightly higher APY rate of return may want to consider dabbling in bank certificate of deposits (CD’s). CD’s can be found and purchased through commercial banks and certain deposit brokers (view my list of the best online brokers), and along with regular bank deposits, are both considered very safe investments. Like checking and savings accounts, certificate of deposits are also insured up to $100,000. However, do keep in mind that for each individual customer at each banking institution, checkings, savings, and CD’s are lumped into a single FDIC insurance category for coverage purposes.

While CD’s tend to offer fixed interest rates that exceed that offered by checking and savings accounts, the catch is that unlike the variable interest earning bank deposits, your CD deposit is locked into a fixed interest rate at the time of investment. When purchased, the CD account has a set maturity date such that if withdrawn too early, the CD funds will incur an expensive penalty. When you buy a CD via your bank, you invest a fixed sum of money for a fixed period of time €“ anywhere from six months, one year, five years, or longer. In exchange for your agreement to keep the money invested and locked for the pre-arranged period of time, the issuing bank pays you a high interest rate, typically at regular intervals throughout the year. When you cash in or redeem your CD, you receive the money you originally invested plus any accumulated interest. But if you withdraw prematurely, an early withdrawal penalty may cause you to forfeit a chunk of your original investment.

While CD’s enjoy higher interest rates than traditional savings accounts, the potential hassle with CD’s is that once locked in, their rates of return have a potential to lag behind and become surpassed by variable high yield savings accounts if those interest rates rise. The best way to get around this problem is to ladder your CD investments by purchasing CD’s with staggered maturity dates. For example, for those buying CD’s for a period of just a year, one could purchase multiple CD’s, maturing at dates of 1 month, 3 months, 5 months, 7 months, and so forth, thus ensuring that you will always have money coming in and cash on hand at set intervals. CD ladders are a good idea for those wary about locking up their money for long periods of time, but you have to choose the lengths and maturity dates you’re comfortable with, otherwise you’ll toss and turn at night and stress about your lack of liquidity in case of a financial emergency.

3) U.S. Treasury Bills and Bonds – U.S. Treasury Bills, or T-Bills as they are often called, are extremely secure debt instruments issued by the U.S. federal government. They are mostly notably used by large institutional investors and individuals with substantial assets during times of economic crisis and societal instability when there is an instinctual flight to quality. However, I tend to stay away from these bond instruments and rarely invest in them. Their fixed rates of return are terrible and simply too low for my liking. While they offer rock solid protection backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government, the interest rate yields for U.S. Treasuries are often low and based on auction driven demand. Because Treasury rates of return are based on bidding demand that’s heavily influenced by societal factors, during times of economic crisis or political instability, rates of return on U.S. Treasury Bills and Bonds can plummet. During major economic depressions and recessions, U.S. Treasury yields can sometimes even go negative, that is, investors are willing to accept a small destruction of their investment to guarantee no larger destruction.

While U.S. Treasuries generally provide almost laughingly low rates of return on investment, they provide near iron clad safety and protection for your money. Treasury Bills are essentially “IOU” debt instruments issued by the United States federal government to any consumer, business, or institutional investor willing to buy them, and they are used to pay off the U.S. government’s own maturing debt paper and to pay off its own bills. By issuing short term U.S. Treasury Bills, mid term Treasury Bonds, and long term Treasury Notes to consumers, buyers essentially lend the government money in exchange for a fixed rate of return and a solid promise by the U.S. government that the debt investment will be repaid back in full upon maturity due date. Along with FDIC protected banking assets, the world also regards U.S. Treasuries as credit risk proof – the perfect place to store money for the extremely risk adverse.

U.S. Treasuries range in maturation from a few weeks for the short term T-Bills to as long as 30 years for the Treasury Notes. Of course, the longer the maturation date, the higher the fixed interest rate the U.S. debt instrument pays out, same as the case with ordinary bank CD’s. Same as with CD’s, for those who want to inject greater liquidity into their Treasury investments, they may want to consider laddering their Treasuries as well, by purchasing multiple U.S. Treasuries simultaneously offering different maturity dates. The recommended way is to purchase multiple Treasury bills and notes that will expire at regular set intervals and have them automatically rolled over into newly issued Treasuries for continuous interest earning effect, but still maintain a semblance of liquidity.

The simplest way to purchase U.S. Treasuries is to go through the federal government’s Treasury Direct website. There you can follow the instructions to open a new account for individual investors by providing your personal and financial information such as name, mailing address, Social Security Number, bank deposit account, and bank routing number. You can purchase as little as $100 worth of U.S. Treasury “IOU’s” (the current minimum investment) or you can purchase millions of dollars worth. While there is a competitive bidding process of yield prices, most ordinary non-expert individual investors can opt for the non competitive process and simply agree to the current spot offering rate. As such, the service is probably more beneficial to extremely wealthy investors unable to find full protection under the FDIC limits and needing to preserve their millions of dollars in extremely safe lock box type of accounts. There is currently no limit to the amount of U.S. Treasuries that may be purchased and interest income derived are exempt from state and local taxes.

4) Money Market Funds – Money market funds are conservative mutual funds that invest in short term, stable debt instruments, high quality securities, and other forms of top rated short term commercial paper that can be easily sold, making the likelihood of any loss of principal extremely rare. Unlike traditional mutual funds and index funds, asset preservation minded money market mutual funds do not invest in stocks, which while lends itself to greater stability, also results in a much lower rate of return compared to their growth oriented counterparts. While most mutual funds, particularly those that invest in riskier stocks and investments are not all that safe and secure from investment loss as they ebb and flow with the economic cycle and the plight of underlying corporations, money market mutual funds tend to substantially more stable.

However, while money market mutual funds have been traditionally regarded as solid and reliable investments, they are not without a tinge of risk, depending on the composition of the money market fund’s portfolio. While the great majority of these funds have never lost money or failed, recent money market fund events in the news have sent a chill through the financial world. Recently, the Reserve Primary Fund, a giant money market mutual fund, announced its investors would lose money. Instead of each money market fund share being worth the customary $1, each would now be worth 97 cents, essentially “breaking the buck” in the process, forcing investors to eat a 3% loss. The loss was triggered by the fund’s purchase of debt securities issued by Lehman Brothers with a face value of $785 million that ultimately became worthless, as Lehman Brothers ultimately spiraled into bankruptcy and ended up on the chopping block for sale due to failed investments in subprime mortgages.

The moral of the story in terms of flight to quality is to seek out high yield bank accounts and U.S. Treasuries for safety first before seeking out money market funds. While money market funds are significantly more secure than stock based mutual funds and are generally still considered decently safe places to invest your money, in today’s dangerous and ever shifting credit markets, they simply do not offer the same 100% protection as that offered by savings accounts, CD’s, and U.S. Treasuries.

5) Gold Investments – This is most definitely not a recommendation but rather the raising of another interesting alternative way to hedge against economic risk, inflation, and the weakening dollar. I hesitated to even mention gold and such hedged investments against risk, but everytime the economic and credit markets head south, the subject of buying and investing in gold always comes up. Gold, silver, and other valuable commodities are tangible material investments that always skyrocket in value during difficult economic times. When there is political and social instability due to frozen credit markets or news of terrorist attacks that shake up the financial system, the housing market, or the stock market, the value of commodities not tied to a variable money system but that is instead linked to underlying rarity based on exchange driven supply and demand goes up.

But remember, buyers beware – one thing to keep in mind is that gold is just like any other investment – it’s still a bet against economic times and prices do fluctuate with great volatility. Like with any other educated bet, your gamble may pay off big or backfire significantly. While prices of gold are almost certain to remain high as the economy flirts with a full blown economic recession and the financial markets continue to flounder, prices of gold have the potential to decline significantly should there be signs of an economic recovery. Thus for the conservative investor who is seeking a flight to quality in his or her investments with pure asset preservation in mind during times of economic instability, I would recommend treading with great caution when it comes to investing in gold. Unless you have experience with gold investments, stick with Treasuries, high yield bank accounts, and CD’s instead.

We live in an extremely politically correct country these days, which means anyone who even mentions anything negative about someone different (like negatively pointing out a foreign accent), or criticizes someone for their inability to speak the language properly, he or she is immediately labeled as prejudiced, racist, or somehow inciting hateful views. I’m truly none of those things, but I feel a personal finance blog platform is as good as any to express my own personal views about my own experiences on the matter. While I was born overseas, I came to the U.S. when I was only 2-3 years old, so I’ve pretty much grown up as an American and learned to identify strongly with the crux of American culture and its values. While a key component of American culture is the ability to embrace diversity and appreciate differences between different types of people, both foreign and domestic, there are some circumstances when I greatly prefer the services of a fellow American.

This preferential situation comes up whenever I call a live customer service help line. When I pick up the phone and make that affirmative decision to seek help via a toll free telephone number, my reasonable expectation is that I will reach someone who can communicate with me in an intelligible way, and help me resolve my consumer business problem quickly and efficiently, so that I can go along my merry way. It’s bad enough that I often have to spend 30 minutes or more waiting on hold before I can talk to a live technical support representative, but these days, it seems when I finally reach that live person, he or she turns out to be completely unable to communicate with me using comprehensible and discernible English.

I Can Deal With Difficult To Understand Accents In Real Life (By Using Hand Gestures), But When The Situations Happen Over The Phone, The Conversations Can Get Comically Tedious

I am terrible when it comes to understanding different accents. Even British English accents trip me up on occasion – but at least it is somewhat closer to American English in terms of speech and pronunciation, albeit a bit more deliberately pronounced I suppose. While I can understand the different types of American English accents such as a southern, Boston, and even accents that distinguish different races and ethnic groups prominent in this country, I still have frequent difficulty understanding the cultural nuances and accents that aren’t considered mainstream American English. This difficulty in understanding foreign accents is most pronounced and debilitating when it comes to conversations over the phone with someone from another land, especially when I find my phone call re-routed to some outsourced call center located overseas and wind up with a customer service rep who speaks with a thick accent that I simply cannot understand despite my best efforts.

While in a real life conversation and business work setting, heavy accents aren’t as significant a detriment as there are other methods of communication such as using writing and through natural hand gestures to punctuate one’s point, in the world of customer service telephone calls, this type of linguistic verbal diversity is a significant detriment and handicap. When it comes to customer and technical support help lines, communication and speed are two important elements to a quick and satisfactory resolution of the problem at hand. There are plenty of jobs where having a perfect American English accent is not crucial and one can get away with not having otherwise perfect American English, but a position as a customer service call representative that caters to Americans is not one of them. The job absolutely demands that the agent be able to communicate with the language of the target country. Is that really too much to ask? Oftentimes in such scenarios, time and patience are limited luxuries. In such situations, having a thick accent is a very undesired handicap to have, particularly when the issue needs to get resolved quickly over the phone in a short period of time without the benefit of time to get to know each other. This is the biggest problem many customers such as myself are having with companies that continue to outsource their customer service call center jobs overseas to English speaking, but heavily accented countries like India.

Facing An Indian Customer Service Representative With An Incredibly Thick Accent Is Like Talking To A Brick Wall – Nothing Gets Through, and Time Is Wasted

When American call center customer service jobs are outsourced to other countries, I think it’s reasonable to expect the call agents that will be handling the calls to be trained to speak in proper America English. However that is not always the case. Especially when it comes to Indian call centers, the accent is often an interesting mish mash of British English, local Indian dialect, and butchered American English. What often comes out is an unintelligible murmur, resulting in humorous and frequently embarrassing exchanges between the rep and the customer.

A few years ago, I bought a Linksys wireless Internet router, but had major trouble setting up my wireless connection. I kept losing my wireless internet signal and so I embarked on a customer service phone call quest to solve the problem. I dialed the company’s 1-800 number and was promptly connected to an agent. Little did I know, but my call from Maryland, USA was instantly routed thousands of miles across the planet to a different time zone to a call center in India. Immediately when I heard the agent’s accent, I knew it was going to be a long day. It started as soon as my phone rep introduced herself with a thick Indian accented “Hello”…followed by a …”my name is Mary”, a presumably English name moniker chosen by the Indian customer service rep for the convenience sake of their mostly American clientele instead of compelling them to remember a more difficult Indian name. For the next 60 minutes, I struggled valiantly to understand her words and sentences. I tried to remain polite and understanding, but I kept asking her to please repeat herself, much to my continued embarrassment. Every sentence on her part would be followed by a “What?” on my end, or would be followed by a momentary pause as I scratched my head and tried to figure out what she was trying to tell me.

After a while, I could tell she was getting fed up with having to repeat herself after every instruction, but then what was I supposed to do? I desperately tried to understand, and I really did try – but it was a constant guessing game on my end. I simply could not comprehend the Indian customer service representative’s thick Indian English accent. At the end, I got little accomplished because she and I were simply unable to communicate. I found myself spending more than an hour repeating her own words back in my vain attempt to make some linguistic sense. Eventually I had to give up and seek help from another customer service rep. The next rep’s Indian accent was just as thick and I ultimately had to call back several times before I finally found an agent who’s accent was more bearable. But the experience left me with a very negative view of the company and their irresponsible cost cutting efforts to send customer service jobs overseas when the work could be better handled here.

American Companies Who Cater To American Consumers Should Seriously Re-Consider Their Indian Outsourcing Strategy Or Face Consumer Backlash In The Long Run

This is a serious problem that many major American companies who choose to outsource their call center jobs to low cost foreign countries will ultimately have to face. Customers such as myself may eventually take our customer service frustration out on the company and defect to one of their competitors. Based on some news reports I’ve read, many companies that have attempted to outsource their customer service functions abroad have not realized the cost savings they expected, discovering that there are hidden costs that far outweighed the potential savings in labor expenses. Oftentimes, due to significant customer complaints about difficult to understand customer service representative accents and great differences in culture, companies have had to expend significant amounts of additional money to train the agents on proper American English and terminology. Ultimately some of these outsourcers have brought those type of jobs back in-house and back into the country.

Faced with backlash from customers like myself who have great difficulty understanding heavily accented Indian English, some companies are actually taking the next logical alternative step by shipping the work over to other moderately English speaking countries, like the Philippines. As a former U.S. controlled territory, the Philippines at least offers a more Americanized work force with a better understanding of American culture that can potentially offer employees with lighter accents. There will still be an annoying accent to deal with, but at least the twang, so to speak, will be significantly less painful to understand than that spoken in India.

There are currently also signs that the trend toward outsourcing call center jobs to low-wage countries like India or even the Philippines may be slowing down. Research shows that some call centers are most effective when staffed by Americans and there is at least some growing attempt to keep jobs here. I’ve noticed that many companies are now trying to keep the bulk of their daytime customer service call center jobs in the United States where the calls can be handled by American English speaking agents. For customer service lines that provide 24 hour coverage and take on evening calls however, some still get routed overseas to places like India, but many daytime calls are now being mercifully handled by call centers in the U.S. At least that’s what I noticed recently when I called my cable internet provider’s help line several times recently. When I called during normal daytime office hours, I got a service rep that spoke perfect English, but at night, I basically played the ole accent guessing game, doubling and even tripling the length of time spent trying to resolve my problem.

For those of you out there who are embarrassed to admit but also have difficulty understanding accents, I recommend making your 1-800 customer service and technical support phone calls during the day. Sure that means using up your precious anytime wireless phone minutes, but you stand a much better chance of reaching someone in this country than if you called after hours.

Updated With The New and Current FDIC Insurance Limits For Bank Deposits! (New Law Went Into Effect October 3, 2008)

As the American and world economies endure a period of economic recession, the once stable and thriving marketplace can seem like a distant memory. Not only does it seem like unemployment warning flags and disappointing corporate earning reports lurk around every corner, it’s all too easy to succumb to the financial despair. When you combine the mortgage market meltdown with increasing housing foreclosures, and you mix that with high gas prices, fears of another major Islamic terrorist attack, and snowballed consumer pessimism, you have a spicy cocktail for widespread financial depression. While I’m not a financial fortune teller, nor am I a guru who can predict when the recession or lingering credit crisis will pass, all I can do is reassure you of areas in your life where you ought not to be overly distraught or paranoid about.

One segment in the economy that has spawned a huge surge of concern and irrational panic is the area of bank failures and bank bankruptcies. Because of the excessive subprime lending to consumers totally unqualified to receive home mortgages made by irresponsible mortgage lenders in the past few years, the economy is now reaping the terrible financial whirlwind result of defaulting loans and home foreclosures. This calamity is currently happening on a massive scale as huge banking giants like Citibank and Bank of America, as well as major thrift saving institutions like Washington Mutual are getting pummeled for their ties to bad mortgage loans. Unable to recoup their housing mortgage investments, many of these financial service providers are having to write off billions of dollars of unrecoverable bad loans, triggering serious questions by creditors, deposit account holders, and shareholders of their ability to continue as viable going concerns.

Bank Failures Have A Way Of Sparking Emotional Panic, Regardless Of The Government Effort’s To Alleviate Fears

While most major banks have healthier segments of their financial businesses to siphon assets and capital from, thereby allowing them to stay afloat, a few have not been so lucky. Netbank, an online banking institution that was one of the first early adopters during the initial Internet banking craze, ultimately keeled over due to the disintegration of its mortgage business segment. When its asset position could no longer meet depositor demand, federal regulators swooped in to shut it down, forcing Netbank to ultimately file for bankruptcy.

Banking and mortgage services giant Countrywide Financial recently faltered under the crushing weight of bad mortgages as well, and was ultimately acquired by Bank of America at an extremely huge discount, saving it from near collapse.

Most recently, IndyMac Bank fell flat on its face, triggering shock waves that signified the United States’ second largest banking collapse in history. Due to the sheer financial size of IndyMac bank, and the large scale and huge number of account customers the banking collapse affected, the news triggered panic attacks and resulted in reports of huge lines of desperate customers clamoring to get their deposit money out of the bank out of fear of the unknown. Despite the federal government’s announcement that the vast majority of deposit holders would not lose a single cent of their money, news of catastrophic bank failures have a way of making consumers go crazy and act in irrationally frenzied ways. As someone who considers himself relatively educated about the subject of finance, even I have to admit I was disturbed by the sheer magnitude of the Indy Mac bank collapse. After all, if IndyMac could fall, who else could potentially be next? I felt a slight tinge of emotional panic despite my otherwise logical and rational mental faculties – and I wasn’t even an IndyMac banking or home mortgage customer. But yet, I still felt the reactive emotional ripples that made me question my faith and trust in my bank and the economy at large. While bank failures are incredibly rare, they do happen – especially when there is a significant and pervasive trigger (the subprime mortgage meltdown) that is causing the financially destructive domino effect.

Thus, that is why it is extremely important for us, as cool headed consumers, to greatly educate ourselves on the types of financial and banking protections the system has in place to shield the money we save up in banks, savings and loans, and credit unions from loss. By learning more about how the federal government, the FDIC, and private bank risk sharing agreements protect our deposits, the more our fears will diminish, thus helping to solidify our faith in our banking institutions. We live in an efficient market where there are powerful protective systems in place, and proper financial education will help to reinforce that confidence. Thus sometimes, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – a nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance” (a powerful quote made by former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression).

How Does FDIC Insurance Keep Our Bank Accounts and Deposit Money Safe?

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a federal government run entity that provides deposit insurance protection for participating member banks – guaranteeing their deposit accounts from loss. The FDIC system was set up to instill consumer confidence in our nation’s banking system during a time of severe economic recession and financial turmoil. To prevent massive runs on banks triggered by irrational consumer panic to withdraw money during times of crisis, the United States government set up the FDIC to guarantee depositors at insured banks that their money would always be safe, even during the worst of times.

As a general rule of thumb, the current FDIC insured amount per depositor at each bank is $250,000 (with extra exceptions for different ownership categories). This blanket protection insures member bank accounts from bank failure loss, up to the maximum insured amount of $250,000. The FDIC protection covers a variety of bank deposits, including – checking accounts, savings accounts, money market accounts, certificate of deposits (CD’s), and even bank money orders and cashier’s checks. However, the FDIC protection does not cover non bank deposit type accounts and assets like – stocks, bonds, mutual fund investments, variable or fixed annuities, U.S. Treasury securities, or contents stored in safe deposit boxes. As FDIC insurance only covers bank failure loss, it also does not provide protection against bank fire, fraud, or theft, although in the overwhelming majority of cases, individual banks usually have their own private hazard and casualty insurance coverage against these other types of loss.

The FDIC also provides loss protection for retirement accounts held in member banks in the form of deposits. The FDIC limit for retirement accounts, which includes self directed plans like Roth IRA’s, Traditional IRA’s, SEP’s, and Keogh’s, currently stands at – $250,000. The higher FDIC limit for retirement accounts is a clear recognition by the FDIC of the importance of ensuring that consumers always have their retirement nest eggs to fall back on.

How Does The Federal Government and The FDIC Monitor The Banking Industry?

While by no means a perfect system, the banking industry is highly regulated by the federal government and watched by multiple federal agencies – including the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of Currency, the FDIC, and the Office of Thrift Supervision. Along with state banking regulators, there are multiple sets of eyes at all time on the state of the banking market. While bank failures are incredibly rare, they do happen on occasion unfortunately.

In such an occurrence, as soon as the federal and state regulators determine that a bank no longer has the capacity to meet depositor demands and sustain sufficient capital due to insolvency problems, the FDIC barges in to take command. Once it takes control, the execution is usually fairly rapid as the FDIC is highly motivated to ensure a seamless transition. Until the FDIC can find a suitable buyer of the failing bank’s assets, the bank generally continues to run as usual without significant interruption. In the rare event the FDIC cannot find a suitable buyer, it closes down the ailing bank and sends out checks to all account holders within the FDIC insurance limits along with interest. Usually the FDIC payments are sent out in a matter of days.

For Those Banking Customers With $250,000 Or Less In Total Bank Deposits, Your Money Is Fully Covered By The FDIC

If you are a young student or a person with relatively low income with little in the way of financial or banking assets, you probably won’t have to worry too much about losing your money in the event of a bank failure. If your total bank deposits are less than $250,000, you can rest assured that the full faith and credit of the United States government has your back. The ones that have to be more vigilant in how they structure their checking and savings account deposits are those with more than $250,000 in total deposits. Those with more than $250,000 in deposits will need to pay greater attention to how they break up and consolidate their money among FDIC insured banks to ensure maximum FDIC protection against loss.

For Those With More Than $250,000, You’ll Need To Pay Attention To How The FDIC Provides Separate Coverage For Different Ownership Categories At Any One Bank

While I personally don’t have more than $250,000 in total bank deposits that require me to even worry about this problem (yet!), it’s something I want to know more about because I know one day I will reach that goal (why dream if you can’t dream big). It’s better to know how to structure your bank deposit portfolio now and plan for that occasion, than not know what to do when you reach that point someday in the not too distant future.

While the FDIC insurance program protects individual bank depositors up to a maximum of $250,000 per bank, there are clever ways and not-so-secret methods to get you around this protection limit. The primary way to accomplish this is through deposit account diversification. By splitting your total deposits into multiple ownership category accounts or splitting your assets among different FDIC insured banks, you can ensure full protection of your money. Remember, bank deposit accounts at different banks are insured separately (although all bank branches are considered part of the same bank). Thus, each bank has its own complete set of FDIC coverage limits.

At any one bank, the FDIC offers each category of ownership account its own individual coverage cap. There are different types of ownership categories, each with its own $250,000 FDIC insurance limit. You can go straight to the official source if you want to know more about the FDIC’s policy on ownership categories, but the more common ownership categories are listed here. Remember, each ownership category (single account, joint accounts, etc) gets its own $250,000 FDIC coverage limit:

• Single Accounts – Most consumer bank accounts fall into this category, which covers checking, savings, and CD’s. Basically, if your bank account is in your name only, its ownership category is probably that of a single account. Single accounts also include sole proprietorship business accounts you may own at the same bank (DBA, “Doing Business As” type businesses). All personal and sole proprietorship business deposit accounts at the same bank are added together as single accounts and insured up to the combined maximum FDIC limit of $250,000.
• Joint Accounts – Joint accounts are simply bank deposit accounts that are owned by two people or more at the same bank. While most joint accounts are held by married couples, joint account owners don’t necessarily need to be married. For example, while I have my own individual bank account at a local Chevy Chase Bank, my mom and I also jointly hold a separate shared deposit account at the same bank. Individuals can have multiple joint accounts at the same bank, each with joint ownership involving different people, but when it comes to calculating the total FDIC limit for the joint account category, all proportional shares that each individual owner owns in all joint bank accounts at any one bank are added together and insured up to $250,000 for each individual. Thus, while a joint deposit account for a married couple may appear to enjoy a higher $500,000 FDIC limit, it’s actually made up of two separately capped $250,000 limits – one for the wife, and one for the husband.
• Trust Accounts – Both revocable and irrevocable trusts get their own FDIC insurance limits of $250,000. By listing others as beneficiaries, one can strategically use trust deposit accounts to get around the usual FDIC individual caps. For example, both a husband and wife can set up 2 separate revocable trusts in each other’s names to get an extra total $500,000 FDIC limit on top of their other single and joint account limits.
• Business Accounts – I’m sure business owners feel the FDIC insurance deposit limit for business accounts are currently much too low, but as it currently stands, bank deposit account funds held by corporations, limited liability companies (LLC’s), and partnerships at any one bank are combined and insured up to a maximum FDIC limit of only $250,000 (much too low in my opinion). Keep in mind, sole proprietorship business accounts are lumped in with single accounts.
• Retirement Accounts – Self directed retirement accounts where the account holder gets to decide what to do with his or her money, are offered much higher insurance limits under the FDIC – at $250,000. This particular ownership category includes the following retirement plans – individual retirement accounts (IRA’s), Roth IRA’s, Simplified Employee Pension Accounts, and Keogh Plan accounts. All retirement account deposits held by an individual at a single bank are added together and insured up to a maximum FDIC limit of $250,000. However, keep in mind, retirement account assets invested in stocks, bonds, and mutual funds are not FDIC insured as you’re actually investing through a broker with a working relationship with your bank. The FDIC coverage only protects retirement bank deposits, not investments.

Those With More Than $250,000 In Bank Assets Should Shift Bank Deposit Money Into Joint Accounts To Maximize FDIC Coverage

Because the FDIC provides $250,000 total protection limits for each ownership category, including $250,000 for self directed retirement accounts at the same bank, consumers may be able to greatly increase their total overall financial protection by splitting their money among different types of ownership accounts at the same bank. For example, if you have an individual savings account with total deposits valued at $600,000, you need to be extra careful about bank failure. In the event your bank fails or is suddenly unable to meet depositor demands, you stand to potentially lose $350,000 because only $250,000 worth of assets in the single account category are covered. The solution is not to open up multiple bank accounts like checking accounts or CD’s as they are all of the same ownership category and doing so won’t increase your overall FDIC limit. The best way to diversity and boost your FDIC limit is to spread your deposit among different ownership categories or among different banks. In the case of the hypothetical individual $600,000 savings account, it would be advisable to take at least $350,000 from that savings account and shift it into a joint account with your spouse, thereby sheltering the $350,000 under the $500,000 ($250,000+$250,000) total joint account FDIC limit. You might even want to make sure you give each deposit account extra room under the FDIC cap to allow interest to accrue, but still remain fully protected.

To reiterate the point about ownership categories, let’s say you went to Wells Fargo and opened up a brick and mortar checking account, an online high interest savings account, and set up a few CD’s – your total coverage limit will still only be $250,000. However, if you opened a joint account with you and your wife or husband, while opening up your own individual checking account at the same time, you will be able to receive $250,000 coverage limit for the checking account, and another separate $500,000 total marital pool coverage limit for the joint account.

Business Accounts Are Covered By FDIC Insurance, But Depending On Type Of Business Entity, They May Or May Not Boost Your Overall Coverage

Depending on business type, a business bank deposit account may or may not enjoy its own separate $250,000 FDIC limit apart from the individual’s cap for single accounts. Because a sole proprietorship and the individual running it are regarded as one and the same for taxation and legal purposes, the FDIC treats sole proprietorships as single accounts for assessing the extent of FDIC coverage. Thus, opening a sole proprietorship business at the same bank as your consumer checking or savings account will not allow you to gain extra coverage.

Only partnerships, limited liability companies (LLC’s), and corporations are able to qualify as separate ownership categories for additional FDIC insurance coverage. Because the FDIC regards certain business entities as separate ownership categories for FDIC insurance purposes, it is not uncommon for clever but sneaky business types to express interest at creating phantom, dummy businesses for the sole purpose of inflating FDIC limits. However, FDIC regulations expressly forbid this practice and stipulate that business accounts for partnerships, corporations, and other unincorporated associations need to be engaged in an “independent activity” such that the business is not engaged primarily in boosting FDIC insurance coverage.

Further Bank Account Diversification Strategies Using Multiple Banks To Increase FDIC Coverage

Because FDIC insurance coverage is offered for not only different account ownership categories, but also for different banking institutions, the recommendation by some pundits for high networth individuals is to spread one’s assets among a multitude of banks. Because each bank offers its own set of bank failure protection limits by the FDIC, savvy account holders are often advised to sacrifice some of their deposits made at just a handful of high yielding banks for greater diversity by spreading it among a greater number of deposit institutions. Let’s say you have $750,000 in a high yield savings account at HSBC Direct that you want to fully protect under the FDIC. If setting up joint accounts to boost FDIC coverage is not available to you as a viable option, you could instead open up accounts at say, Bank of America and Wachovia, shifting $250,000 into each of those two new savings accounts. Thus, your total $750,000 portfolio would now enjoy separate $250,000 FDIC coverages at three different banks. As I mentioned above, in such an event, you may actually want to consider breaking up the $750,000 into four total banks instead of just three to give yourself room to grow in interest and stay fully protected.

One alternative way to shift your banking assets among different banks without actually having to run around the neighborhood or Internet looking for new banks is to participate in a Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service (CDARS). Banks that are members of the CDARS network do the leg work for you by breaking up CD deposits into smaller size chunks that are separately held at different participating network banks. However, your funds continue to enjoy a single point of access at your primary bank with one statement and one interest rate. The practice is rapidly growing in popularity and I highly recommend it as a wonderful and hassle free way to diversify your banking holdings for maximum FDIC protection. Here’s a list of banks that participate in the CDARS network. One downside of using a CDARS bank is that they tend to be smaller, regional size community banks. Some people like smaller community banks, the type of place where everybody knows your name. However, I highly prefer mega-corporate size banks as they tend to resonate more stability and are better capitalized in my opinion. There are only a tiny handful of large institutional banks participating in the CDARS network at this time. Furthermore, because of the CDARS network fees that banks pay for each CDARS transaction (there is no fee to the customer), CDARS deposit account interest rates tend to be lower than that offered by more competitive non-CDARS banks.

However, if I had financial assets in the neighborhood of millions of dollars and account diversification was on my mind, it is unlikely I would be spending my time worrying about FDIC insurance limits. I would probably have the bulk of my money either invested in mutual funds, index funds, money market funds, or other broadly diversified investments that have never been known to actually fail. Frankly, I don’t even think broadly diversified investment assets could ever technically fail – in the worst case scenario, they would simply gradually lose their stock value over time. Buying super secure assets like U.S. Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds would be viable alternatives for high net worth individuals as well. While U.S. Treasury products are not FDIC insured, they are fully backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. The federal government could simply print more money if financial Armageddon necessitated that course of action.