FDIC: When a Bank Fails (2024)

Priority of Payments and Timing

How quickly will the Receiver make payments on Receiver's Certificates?

By law, after insured depositors are paid, uninsured depositors are paid next, followed by general creditors and then stockholders. In most cases, general creditors and stockholders realize little or no recovery. Payments of uninsured funds only, called dividends, depend on the net recovered proceeds from the liquidation of the bank's assets and the payment of bank liabilities according to federal statute. While fully insured deposits are paid promptly after the failure of the bank, the disbursem*nts of uninsured funds may take place over several years based on the timing in the liquidation of the failed bank assets. The dividend payment history for all failed banks closed since October 1, 2000 is available at https://closedbanks.fdic.gov/dividends/.