Fairchild Facts

​Does Fairchild Investments  offer multiple strategies to cover the spectrum of investment opportunities?

Yes, Fairchild and its Registered Investment Advisor, Blue Granite Capital offers a broad spectrum of investment strategies to cover short term core cash, longer term investments through our Balanced Portfolio Program and more aggressive investments with our Alternative Asset Program.

​Is our deposit and investment insured?
As part of our commitment to financial safety and security, Fairchild Investments   and its subsidiaries carry insurance policies that include coverage for fidelity, transit loss, and check and securities forgery. Our partners and alliances are FDIC insured and hold bankers professional liability policy for errors and omissions.

Are the banks that particpate in the FICA program insured and healthy?
The Federally Insured Cash Account (FICA) allocates the bank’s deposits to multiple well capitalized member banks that have been selected using key financial indicators for safety and soundness. These indicators include, but are not limited to, asset size of the participating bank, the risk weighted capital ratio, leverage ratio, and overall daily liquidity.

What are the historical 2012 and current rates?































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How do you get started?

One call to 843.842.9400 will get the paperwork needed to start your investment program today.

​Does the FICA program allow for daily liquidity?

No, weekly. On every Monday orders for withdrawals will be sent out.  Orders for withdrawals must be received by10:30am Eastern Time the previous Friday in order to be sent out Monday.

How can you exceed the current FDIC limit of $250,000 per account?
Under the Federally Insured Deposits Program, bank deposits are allocated in increments of $250,000 to multiple well capitalized member banks all of which carry FDIC insurance. We currently have capacity up to $24 Million USD per tax ID number.



​How safe and secure is the process of investing "excess cash"?

All of our strategic partners and alliances are FDIC insured and carry insurances that include coverage's for fidelity, transit loss, and check and securities forgery. The accounting and reporting system is state of the art and updated daily.

How do you determine which banks can qualify to receive deposits?
Only well capitalized banks as determined by the FDIC’s quarterly call reports are selected to participate in the Federally Insured Cash Account. In addition to monitoring a bank's performance, we also use four primary capital ratios as predictors of a bank's continued viability; leverage ratio, risk weighted capital multiple ratio, gross revenue ratio and the Texas ratio. (See participation criteria for details).



​What types of institutions can place deposits in the program?

Banks,corporations, credit unions, thrifts, individuals, universities, municipalities, and many others can deposit funds into the program up to $24 Million USD per tax ID number.
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What are the current interest rates offered on the FICA?

Currently, we are paying up to 20 basis points to clients that are depositing money into the program. All deposits up to $24 Million USD per tax ID number are fully insured by the FDIC. Rates are subject to change daily.

Is the program in compliance with Regulation F?

YES. Regulation F was designed to aid banks in determining a correspondent relationship's viability and to limit exposure to any individual bank or correspondent by creating written policies and procedures and applying certain "stress tests". Our tests for participating banks meet or exceed the regulation in every category. Quarterly monitoring and the appropriate reporting also are in compliance with the regulation.



​How many receiver banks are participating in the program?

Currently we have 350+ well capitalized banks willing to accept fully insured deposits.



​Has there been a failure of a Depository Bank, and if so, how did the situation play out for the participants?

There has not been a bank failure with client funds. We have removed client funds from banks in the program to the ongoing review and analysis of the banks.  That being said,  with other programs, such as CDARS, where banks have failed,  the longest client funds were ‘held’ up was 2 days.  Please note the only funds which may be impacted are funds at that specific bank, not entire FICA deposit.  It should also be noted every money fund prospectus states a fund has up to 7 days to redeem funds.

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​On page 2 of the program terms and conditions, it indicates that the interest rate earned will be set by each individual Depository Bank.  Can you clarify?

Yes, a single rate is paid to end client.  There are currently 250+ banks participating in the FICA program and each bank pays a different rate, some pay more then what is earned by client and some potentially less, however for the convenience of the client, a single rate is provided versus different rates from each bank.



​Page 3 of the program terms and conditions speaks to a FICA fee.  Please indicate the FICA fee rate and its basis. Additionally, the program terms and conditions and the U.S. Bank National Association custody agreement indicate other fees can be charged.  We would like to know what those fees are and their magnitude.  For example, are their withdrawal fees?  Are there fees on wires in and fees on wires out?

The FICA fee is the difference between what is earned by the bank and what is paid to the end client.  Since inception of the program, there has not been any additional fees charged by the custodian.  There are no withdrawal nor wiring fees on the FICA program other then the charges a clients bank may charge for wires into the FICA account.



​What kind of audit support is Stone Castle and U.S. Bank National Association willing to provide? 

The FICA program is audited on a monthly basis.  Confirmations are provided with each deposit and withdrawal.  In addition, client has access to a daily, detailed statements, listing each and every bank where deposits are held and value of balances by bank.  Client has ability to remove any bank, at any time, for any reason.  The client maintains a direct account at US Bank and if needed, an audit letter from US Bank can be provided upon request.



​Page 5 of the program terms and conditions speaks to being charged fees or being removed from the program for frequent withdrawals.  We understand you can make withdrawals once a week.  What is considered a frequent withdrawal and/or are there limits on the number of withdrawals over a specific period?

There are no specific number of withdrawals.  That being said, the FICA program should not be used for operating cash which may have frequent, monthly transactions.  Most clients use FICA for their core, non-operating cash. Before any charges would be imposed, the client will be notified that as a result of consistent frequent activity . If consistent activity is a requirement then FICA may not be the program for you.



Our auditors were interested in a list of the participating Depository Banks.  They wanted to check whether those banks were participants in their bank confirmation system.

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Can we have a copy of the list of banks?

The listing of banks is proprietary.  If client would like, we can cross reference list of banks in confirmation system and advise of any overlap.  We would need the FDIC cert numbers for review.



​Per the U.S. Bank Association custody agreement, interest paid by Depository Banks flows to our FICA account at U.S. Bank Association.   Does this interest get reinvested somewhere or does it stay in the FICA account?

The interest is paid to the client’s FICA account.  We have some clients which request interest to be paid out monthly to another account. It is the client's choice.