Tioga-Franklin Savings Bank, a one-branch bank in Philadelphia, was closed on August 21 with about $67 million in deposits, and Second Federal Savings and Loan Association of Philadelphia, known as Second Federal, assumed every one of those deposits, the FDIC said in its failure announcement. Customers became Second Federal customers automatically, and their money stayed insured. The failure is now more than two months old, and the FDIC’s estimate of its cost may still move.
How the Tioga-Franklin closing worked
The Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities closed the bank and appointed the FDIC as receiver, according to the FDIC. Tioga-Franklin had about $68 million in total assets and about $67 million in deposits as of June 30, 2026. Second Federal assumed all of the deposits and bought substantially all of the assets.
The sole branch reopened as a Second Federal branch on Monday, August 24, during normal business hours. Over the weekend between, the FDIC said customers had immediate access to their funds and could write checks or use ATM and debit cards. Checks drawn on Tioga-Franklin continued to be processed, and loan customers were told to keep making payments as usual.
A law-firm bulletin from the following week described the same facts: a Philadelphia community bank closed, the FDIC named receiver, and another Philadelphia savings institution taking the deposits.
What a former Tioga-Franklin customer should check now
The FDIC said depositors of Tioga-Franklin automatically became depositors of Second Federal, so no action was required. The announcement does not address benefit payments by name. A former Tioga-Franklin customer who receives Social Security, a pension or any other regular direct deposit can confirm that the deposit has been landing in the account and that the account number and routing details on file with the payer still match what Second Federal issued.
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Automatic bill payments and deposits tied to the old bank are the usual place for a loose end after a takeover like this one. Paper statements and online-banking logins can change as well, since the branch now operates under Second Federal’s name. Anyone who is unsure whether an incoming payment or an outgoing automatic payment has gone through can call Second Federal directly, rather than waiting for a missed payment to show up.
The FDIC set up a toll-free line, 1-866-314-1744, for questions about the closing. At the time of the announcement it listed weekday hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern. Depositors with a balance near the $250,000 limit at Second Federal now have a combined account to count, since any other Second Federal accounts they already held are added together with the ones that came over from Tioga-Franklin.
What the failure costs, and who pays
The FDIC estimated the cost to its Deposit Insurance Fund at about $5.5 million. That figure is preliminary, and the agency said it expects the estimate to change as assets it retained are sold.
The announcement does not say how much of the $67 million sat above the insurance limit, and because Second Federal assumed all deposits, it gives no sign that any depositor was left waiting. The standard insurance amount is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category, according to the FDIC’s deposit insurance page.
What this does and does not say about other banks
One failed bank with $67 million in deposits is small by industry standards, and the FDIC’s announcement draws no conclusion about the wider banking system. The useful point for an account holder anywhere is the sequence: the state regulator closes the bank, the FDIC takes over as receiver, and in an arrangement like this one another bank takes the deposits so that customers keep access without a gap.
That sequence protects deposits inside the limit. It does not protect against a different problem that affects people whose benefits arrive by direct deposit: a creditor or collector freezing an account, which is a separate matter from a bank failure and is handled under different rules. A bank closing does not change who can reach the money, only which bank holds it.
Is the benefit deposit protected if the bank changes?
A bank closing and a frozen account are two different ways a benefit check can stop being reachable, and the second one catches people who were not watching for it. A creditor’s action can freeze an account, and a deposit that is not clearly labelled as benefit money is harder to defend.
“The Bank Account & Debt Protection Kit” includes “the 2-month bank protection rule” and “the frozen-account response,” along with a debt inventory, call log and deadline tracker. It shows how Social Security is protected in a bank account and what a collector can and cannot take.
Keep benefit deposits reachable with the bank-account protection kit →
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
