[nikkicute]

Yahoo Finance Story:

An ATM receipt showing a balance of nearly $100 million dollars was discovered at an East Hampton Village bank.

A customer found the receipt hanging out of the ATM's slot. The customer who found the receipt showed it to financial blog Dealbreaker.com. The receipt, dated June 18, doesn't list the account holder's name but does indicate that the person has $99,864,731.94 in a personal savings account (that's after a $400 withdrawal and a $2.75 service charge). The East Hamptons is a well known playground for the very wealthy.

Is the receipt a mistake of some kind? Perhaps. Anyone with that amount of cash would know that keeping $100 million in a savings account isn't the wisest investment move. Savings accounts earn paltry interest rates and are only guaranteed by the federal government for amounts up to $250,000.

A buzzy article from The New York Post speculates that the holder of the account may be billionaire mogul David Tepper (Forbes lists him as the 208th richest person in the world). When contacted by The New York Post, Tepper denied ownership of the receipt and pointed out that he "would never do something as irresponsible as leaving $100 million in a savings account."

I don't get, why would that be wrong to keep that amount of money in a savings account?
(ok besides the low interest rate) is it not safe:confused:

What does it mean only guaranteed by the Feds for amounts up to $250,000? Does that mean if someone stole your money they can only give you back the $250,000?

[JudyKayTee]

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures a person's accounts in a single bank for UP TO $250,000. You go over that amount and the bank fails, you get back $250,000.

$250,000 per depositor per bank.

If that bank had failed the account holder would have received $250,000 and no more.

FDIC: Your Insured Deposits

[nikkicute]

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insures a person's accounts in a single bank for UP TO $250,000. You go over that amount and the bank fails, you get back $250,000.

$250,000 per depositor per bank.

If that bank had failed the account holder would have received $250,000 and no more.

FDIC: Your Insured Deposits

Ohhhhh! I see... wow guess you have to spread it around to different banks in order to keep your $$ and invest it other ventures. Thanks for the answer!

[Fr_Chuck]

I will say that many gag stores sells ATM statements showing millions of dollars ( that was my first thought) you can buy those along with fake lottery tickets and more

[ebaines]

If that bank had failed the account holder would have received $250,000 and no more.

It's usually not quite that extreme. In most cases when a bank goes belly-up the FDIC is able to get another bank buy it out and honor all account balances - even those over the guarranted maximum. Only if they can't find a buyer does the FDIC step in and reimburse depositors up to a max of $250K. In 2010 less than 4% of the bank failures resulted in any depositors losing money.

Nevertheless the point is valid - even if the risk is "only" 4% it is a bit irresponsible to keep more than the guarranteed amount in a single account.