What is the NCUA?
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is an independent agency of the federal government that charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA also operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF). Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, NCUSIF insures the accounts of millions of account holders in all federal credit unions.
Why is NCUSIF Share Insurance Coverage Important?
Share insurance coverage offered through the NCUSIF protects members against losses if a federally insured credit union should fail. You can confidently join and conduct business with federally insured credit unions because no member has ever lost money insured by the NCUSIF.
Historically, insured funds are available to members within just a few days after the closing of an insured credit union. Failures of federally insured credit unions are rare because only those with sound operational standards qualify to receive NCUSIF coverage. NCUA also regularly reviews the operations of all federal credit unions.
What Basic Coverage is Provided by the NCUSIF?
The NCUSIF provides all members of federally insured credit unions with $250,000 in coverage for their individual accounts. These accounts include regular shares, share drafts, money market accounts and share certificates.
Individuals with account balances totaling $250,000 or less at the same insured credit union have full NCUSIF coverage. If a person has more than $250,000 at any single credit union, several options are available for additional coverage because, as discussed in greater detail below, the NCUSIF provides separate insurance for other types of accounts. Members have full NCUSIF coverage at each federally insured credit union where they are qualified members.
Does the NCUSIF Provide Additional Coverage?
All members of federally insured credit unions have options for coverage that is separate from and in addition to the coverage available to their individual accounts.
Joint Accounts
Joint accounts are savings, share draft or certificate accounts owned by two or more people who have equal rights to withdraw money from the account. The NCUSIF provides joint account holders with $250,000 coverage for their aggregate interests at each federally insured credit union. For example, a two person joint account has $500,000 in coverage. This coverage is separate from and in addition to the coverage available for other accounts such as individual accounts.
|
Coverage Example |
|
Individual Accounts |
Husband Individual |
$250,000 |
|
|
Wife Individual |
$250,000 |
|
Joint Accounts |
Husband & Wife (Joint) |
$500,000 |
|
Total Coverage |
|
$1,000,000 |
Other Types of Accounts
Information on how the NCUSIF provides coverage for retirement and trust account holders can be found on the full How your Accounts Are Federally Insured brochure on the NCUA’s website at www.ncua.gov.
How Can I Get More Information?
A brochure entitled Your Insured Funds is available at NCUA’s Internet site. This comprehensive brochure contains a detailed discussion of all available types of coverage offered by the NCUSIF, along with examples illustrating how the coverage actually works in practice. You can view a copy of this brochure by going online to www.ncua.gov , and selecting the Share Insurance Coverage link.
How Do I Know My Credit Union Is Federally Insured?
Federally insured credit unions are required to indicate their insured status in their advertising and to display the official NCUSIF insurance sign which follows, in the offices. NCUA’s Internet site provides a directory of federally insured credit unions at www.ncua.gov.
* Information on this page has provided from the NCUA brochure: How Your Accounts Are Federally Insured. The complete brochure as well as other brochures and online tools regarding share insurance coverage can accessed by going online to www.ncua.gov , and selecting the Share Insurance Coverage link.