Frequently Asked Questions

Financial institutions that are members of the CDARS Network set the CD rates they will offer. This allows them to price competitively for their local markets – and can benefit you, the customer, as a result. Check with your financial institution to see if it participates in the CDARS^® service, or visit the Network Member Locator to find a CDARS Network member in your area.

Currently, the FDIC insures up to $250,000 of a customer's savings deposits in a given insurable capacity at an FDIC-insured depository institution.¹ So, you can run around to multiple institutions to deposit your funds to receive the same coverage you can access using CDARS. Or you can place your large-dollar deposit with an institution that is a member of the CDARS Network. Your deposit is divided into smaller amounts and placed with other CDARS Network members – each an FDIC-insured institution. Then, those member institutions issue CDs in amounts under the standard FDIC insurance maximum, so that your deposit is eligible for FDIC insurance at each member bank. By working directly with one Network member, you can receive insurance through many.

Funds placed through CDARS are deposited only in FDIC-insured banks. Your financial institution acts as custodian for your CDARS deposits, and the sub-custodian for CDARS deposits is The Bank of New York Mellon ("BNY Mellon"), the largest custodian in the world with total assets of more than $22 trillion.²

Unique to CDARS, you as a depositor can obtain a confirmation of records maintained by BNY Mellon as sub-custodian in order to reconcile those records with the statements received from your financial institution. At any time, as often as desired, you as a depositor can obtain a certified statement from BNY Mellon that confirms the exact amount of your CDs, including principal balance and accrued interest, for each FDIC-insured institution that issues a CD through CDARS.

You can submit a request for the certified statement, along with BNY Mellon's processing fee, through your financial institution. BNY Mellon will send the certified statement directly to you or to another party, such as an auditor, designated by you.

The CDARS Network members that issue your CDs through CDARS provide you with access to the additional FDIC insurance coverage. Working directly with just one financial institution, you get coverage through many.

When CDARS Network members swap deposits on a dollar-for-dollar basis, the same amount of funds placed through the Network returns to your financial institution. As a result, the total amount of your original deposit can remain with your financial institution and be used for local lending. (CDARS^® Reciprocal^SM transactions only.)

Your account information is protected; your relationship remains between you and your financial institution.

Most of the banks that have failed in the United States in recent years were not CDARS Network members or did not hold any CDARS deposits when they failed. When a Network member has failed, the bank's CDs issued using CDARS in most cases have been transferred to a healthy institution – the FDIC's preferred method for handling bank failures. In cases where the FDIC has been unable to find a healthy institution willing to accept such a transfer, it has arranged for the payment of the insured principal and accrued interest to the depositors. This payment has usually occurred in a matter of days.

Please go to http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/index.html to learn more about FDIC insurance.