ANDERSON — Upstate residents have started questioning local bankers about their institutions’ stability following the collapse of IndyMac bank in California and the failure of two Western banks the weekend of July 26-27.

“There’s definitely a heightened sense of awareness,” said Andy Westbrook, chief executive officer of The Peoples National Bank.

He’s received an increasing number of inquiries about Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. guarantees, and deposits are up at The Peoples Bank as residents spread their money around, president and CEO Shawn McGee said.

The FDIC insures bank deposits up to $100,000 and certain retirement accounts up to $250,000. Credit union deposits are insured by the National Credit Union Administration up to $100,000.

No one has lost a penny of insured funds since the FDIC’s creation in 1933, and local bankers offer several tips to help customers protect wealth.

Residents can spread their money among several banks or open several accounts at one bank using different names. For example, a married couple can easily get $400,000 covered in one place depending on how they set up and structure accounts, McGee said.

There’s also growing interest in the Certificate Of Deposit Account Registry Service, which allows FDIC insurance on up to $50 million.

In that program, one’s local bank divides one’s deposit into certificate of deposit accounts at in-network banks, making sure none of the account totals exceed $100,000. The customer receives the same interest rate the person is earning from the local bank across all deposits and a single monthly statement. There is no fee, and all of the money is FDIC insured.

Ten Upstate banks are part of the CDARS network, and Westbrook said his CDARS representative is receiving 50 calls a day from banks that want to join the network.

“For years I hadn’t seen any interest in CDARS, but now it’s in vogue,” he said.

Earlier this month, an RBC Capital Markets analyst said more than 300 U.S. banks might fail during the next three years because of credit losses and tight capital markets. But local bankers say the industry is secure.

The vast majority of banks are well- capitalized, CommunitySouth CEO Allan Ducker said.

According to the FDIC, 8,385 U.S. banks are well-capitalized, 91 are adequately capitalized, and only 18 are under-capitalized.

The entire banking industry has $1.36 trillion in capital and another $129 million in reserves, Ducker said.

Preston Jones, GrandSouth Bank’s Anderson executive, said community banks have been significantly less affected by the rising number of foreclosures. GrandSouth doesn’t have a mortgage department, but as a whole, community banks tend to be more conservative lenders, he said.

So when people ask him if their money is safe, he just reminds them that the bank CEO’s family has about $19 million deposited at GrandSouth.

“When I see him start taking withdrawals, that’s when I’ll start calling people,” Jones said.