June 13, 2019

FDIC: Agency Cautions Customers that FDIConnect.com is Not Affiliated with a Government Agency

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) advises bank customers on the potential for confusion between FDIConnect.com and the FDIC-run website, FDICconnect.gov. The FDIC is aware of the website FDIConnect.com, which advertises itself as a consumer-focused provider of FDIC pass-through insurance for bank deposits. The public should be advised that FDIConnect.com is not affiliated with the FDIC.

A similar warning was recently issued by the California Department of Business Oversight.

FDICconnect.gov is a secure electronic portal for the FDIC to connect with financial institutions – not with individual bank customers. Through FDICconnect.gov, bankers can download official FDIC correspondence and conduct secure file exchanges with the FDIC.

The FDIC recommends that bank customers do their due diligence to confirm that a financial institution is FDIC-insured before doing business with the institution. The FDIC’s BankFind database can help customers determine if an insured bank has certain branches or a website that use a “trade name” that is different from the bank’s official name, often for marketing purposes.  BankFind will provide customers with the name of the bank that owns the branch or website, if applicable, along with other pertinent information regarding that bank.

Customers may also call the FDIC toll-free at 1-877-275-3342 to check whether the FDIC insures a specific bank or savings association.

More information on FDIC deposit insurance is available on the FDIC website.

This post was originally published here.