Public Unit Account

A public unit account, also known as a government account, holds funds provided by the United States government and its agencies, such as public school systems, government agencies, police and fire departments, public hospitals and municipalities.

Public unit accounts include deposit accounts of the United States, including federal agencies; any state, county, municipality or a political subdivision thereof; the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other government territories; and accounts owned by an Indian tribe.

Insurance coverage of a public unit account under the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) extends to the official custodian of the deposits belonging to the public unit, rather than to the public unit itself. Each official custodian of deposits in an insured depository institution located in the same state as the public unit, is insured up to $250,000 as of 2011 for time and savings deposits, and up to $250,000 for demand deposits as of 2011. This is a unique feature of FDIC insurance coverage as applicable to public unit accounts.