We all know how hard it is to save money. But do you know what happens to your savings if the bank fails? Coral Santacruz, a member of the 11Onze marketing team, explains it to us.

When a bank fails in Spain, “customers are guaranteed by the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Credit Institutions up to a maximum of 100,000 euros per account holder“, explains Coral Santacruz. This means that if an account has two holders, the insured amount would be 200,000 euros. The Guarantee Fund only acts when a bank fails. If the bank is acquired by another entity and the new entity assumes the rights of the clients, there is no loss of capital.

As detailed on the website of the Deposit Guarantee Fund, which was created in 2011, “the fund’s purpose is to guarantee deposits in cash and securities or other financial instruments held by credit institutions, up to a limit of EUR 100,000 for cash deposits or, in the case of deposits in other currencies, the equivalent sum at the applicable exchange rates”. The fund comes into play when a credit institution is unable to meet its payments and obligations because it is in insolvency proceedings.

How does the fund work?

Currently, all banks are obliged by law to contribute to the Guarantee Fund and have to pay in a small percentage of customer deposits in order to be able to cope with possible bankruptcies.

“If any of the situations that lead to the activation of the payment of guaranteed deposits occurs, the customer will not have to take any action or bear any kind of cost,” explains Santacruz. In this case, the bank has to provide all the customer’s personal and financial data to the Deposit Guarantee Fund so that it can make the payments. When the Deposit Guarantee Fund checks that everything is correct, it contacts the affected party to pay the corresponding amount.

As Coral Santacruz recommends, one strategy we can use to secure our savings is to diversify them in “different entities, always without exceeding 100,000 euros in each account”. If we do this, “in the event of bankruptcy, the totality of the savings will be recovered, as they would be covered by the Deposit Guarantee Fund”.

If you want to know more about superior options to make your money profitable, go to Guaranteed Funds. From 11Onze Recomana we propose you the best options in the market.