FAQ's
CDARS is the program used for depositors who are looking to protect their large-dollar deposits by placing those funds into a CD to earn returns based on the time period of their choosing. ICS is the program used for depositors who are looking to protect their large-dollar deposits by placing them into a Money Market deposit account, giving the depositor more liquidity.
You will work directly with PyraMax Bank, the bank you know and trust. As always, your confidential information remains protected.
The FDIC insures up to $250,000 in a customer's deposit accounts in a given insurable capacity at an FDIC-insured depository institution. When your funds are placed through the IntraFi® Network, they are divided into amounts under the standard FDIC maximum and placed with other institutions participating in IntraFi's network. This makes your deposit eligible for FDIC insurance at each member bank. You do not pay a fee to use this service, and you receive just one consolidated monthly account statement from us.
When PyraMax Bank exchanges deposits with other institutions in the IntraFi® Network, the same amount of funds placed through the network returns to our bank from another financial institution. As a result, the total amount of your original deposit can remain with our bank and be used for local lending.
Funds placed through CDARS® and ICS® are deposited only into FDIC-insured banks. We act as custodian for your deposits, and the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) acts as subcustodian.
Most of the banks that have failed in the United States in recent years have not been part of the IntraFi® Network at the time of the failure. If the institution holding your deposits were to fail, in most cases they would be transferred to a healthy institution - the FDIC's preferred method for handling bank failures. In cases where there 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 within a matter of days.
As an ICS customer, you have access to the Depositor Control Panel, which shows how many withdrawals you have made from ICS funds in money market deposit accounts during a given month. You can withdraw ICS funds up to six times per month.