Tellus is not a bank, and your Tellus accounts are not FDIC insured.

All cash on Tellus’ balance sheet is held at Member FDIC banks. We keep this cash at different banks to ensure you always have access to your money, even if there’s a problem with one of these banks.

Once we lend money, that cash is considered “deployed.” Deployed cash acts as a loan, meaning it’s a real estate loan itself and has no FDIC insurance. These loans are not mortgage-backed securities, as Tellus holds no mortgage-backed securities.

Here’s how we’re built to keep your money secure.

• Deposit base: With tens of thousands of customers depositing money from across the country, our deposit concentration is low. That means we don’t rely on any one customer or group of customers to stay afloat.
• Residential bridge loans: We make short-term loans, called “residential bridge loans,” with 6- and 12-month time horizons. We don’t lock in rates for 20 or 30 years. These loans allow us to charge higher rates, and the short payback period helps us navigate a rising rate environment.
• Risk management: We’re selective in our lending activity and never take on unnecessary risk. In fact, we’ve never had a single loss on any of our lending activity since our inception. We’re deeply committed to maintaining an appropriate margin of safety in all of our activities, from lending to cash management.

Here’s more on how we protect you, including our Triple Layer Protection™.