FDIC Claims Portal

Interaction design for the FDIC's deposit-insurance claims

Most people never think about deposit insurance. Not until a bank fails, and the only question that matters is whether their money is safe. At that exact moment, the system met them with forms.

The FDIC's claims portal was the fix, and I designed its direction, built on conversation instead of paperwork, years before chatbots made that fashionable. Instead of a form dump, it would ask what someone needs, explain their coverage in plain language, and walk a frightened claimant through it like a person would.

Built or not, the principle holds: when someone's scared their savings are gone, the interface's only job is to answer the question they're actually asking — am I okay?