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To check whether a U.S. bank is federally or state chartered, find the exact legal institution in the FDIC’s BankFind Suite and read its Bank Charter Class and Primary Federal Regulator fields. Cross-check national banks and federal savings associations against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) active institution lists. A state charter does not mean the bank has no federal oversight.
How to check a bank’s charter
- Identify the legal institution. Note the bank’s full legal name and its city and state. A consumer-facing brand may differ from the bank’s legal name, and similarly named institutions can be easy to confuse.
- Search the OCC’s records. Use the OCC Financial Institution Search, which allows searches by name or charter number, or consult the OCC’s active lists of national banks and federal savings associations. The search tool covers specified OCC records; if a bank does not appear there, check the active lists and BankFind rather than treating absence from search results as proof of a state charter.
- Open the FDIC BankFind record. Search the BankFind Suite using the institution’s legal name and location. Open the matching institution’s “View Details” page.
- Read the two relevant fields. Check Bank Charter Class for the charter type and Primary Federal Regulator for the federal agency with primary oversight. Use the OCC listing as a cross-check for an institution identified as a national bank or federal savings association.
- Match identifiers before relying on the result. Confirm the location and, where shown, institution or charter identifiers. This helps distinguish the bank from a similarly named institution, its holding company, or a fintech brand that works with a bank.
How to interpret the result
| Bank Charter Class or status | Primary federal oversight | What the result means |
|---|---|---|
| National bank | OCC | A federally chartered bank. Check the OCC active list or BankFind’s charter and regulator fields. |
| Federal savings association | OCC | A federally chartered savings association. Check the OCC active list and BankFind’s fields. |
| State-chartered bank that is not a Federal Reserve member | FDIC, as well as the applicable state banking regulator | The bank has a state charter and federal oversight by the FDIC. |
| State-chartered bank that is a Federal Reserve member | Federal Reserve, as well as the applicable state banking regulator | The bank has a state charter and federal oversight by the Federal Reserve. |
| State-chartered savings association | FDIC, as well as the applicable state banking regulator | The savings association has a state charter and federal oversight by the FDIC. |
The OCC says it is the primary regulator of banks chartered under the National Bank Act and federal savings associations chartered under the Home Owners’ Loan Act. State-chartered institutions are also supervised by state banking regulators; their primary federal regulator depends on the institution’s type and, for banks, Federal Reserve membership. See the OCC’s overview of institution lists and oversight.
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Do not use the bank’s name as the only test
“National” or “N.A.” in a bank’s legal name is a useful clue that it may be a national bank, but confirm the specific institution in official records. Federal savings associations are not required to include a charter identifier in their legal name, so a name-only search can miss their status. The OCC explains these naming distinctions in its Community Bank Director Workshops FAQ.
Charter, regulator, and deposit insurance are different
A charter tells you whether the institution is federally or state chartered. The primary federal regulator identifies the federal agency with primary oversight; a state-chartered bank also has a state banking regulator. Neither field, by itself, answers whether deposits are insured.
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To check insurance, inspect the separate FDIC-insured status in the institution’s BankFind record. The OCC also directs users to BankFind to confirm deposit insurance; see its guidance on unauthorized banking. Do not infer insurance from the charter label.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the exact legal institution matters
A banking brand may be a trade name, a holding company, or a fintech that offers services through a partner bank. The charter belongs to the legal bank listed in official records, not automatically to the brand a customer sees. Match the legal name and location—and any available identifiers—to the institution that actually holds the relevant account or provides the banking service.
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Records can change when institutions merge, change names, or convert charters. For a time-sensitive check, use current OCC and BankFind records and note the date you accessed them if you are documenting or publishing the result. The OCC active-list page showed an “as of” date of 2026-08-31 in the records consulted; FDIC example institution data were labeled as of 2026-10-02. Those dates describe those records, not a guarantee that every listing remains unchanged.
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