If it looks like a bank, advertises like a bank and accepts money like a bank — it still might not be a bank.
That is the lesson being meted out in painful fashion to tens of thousands of depositors who entrusted their savings to online-only lenders.
But to the surprise of many depositors, these companies merely collect money and funnel it through intermediaries to banks.
Because Synapse was not a bank, the F.D.I.C.
insurance did not automatically apply, and now nearly $100 million of deposits have been frozen or lost.
Organizations:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Synapse Financial
Locations:
U.S