Banks didn't pay into FDIC coffers from 1996 - 2006.

Eye-opener from the Consumerist.

For 10 years—including the boom times banks enjoyed in the first half of this decade—the FDIC was prevented from collecting fees from 95% of financial institutions, which it would have used to further build up its safety net in the event it would someday have to bail out a bunch of stupid losers who confused banking with alchemy.

[...] Of course the American Banking Association says it made no sense to pay into the FDIC during those 10 years because they had more than enough money. Congress, not surprisingly, agreed with them.

[...] At the end of 2008, the FDIC's insurance fund ratio was 0.40% of all insured deposits, far below the minimum 1.15% mandated by Congress.