The NCUA Explained
The National Credit Union Administration is most commonly referred to as the NCUA. It is the independent federal agency that regulates, charters and supervises credit unions. It’s examiners review credit unions’ safety and soundness.
The NCUA provides several services important to consumers:
It operates the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund insuring the savings of account holders in all federal credit unions and majority of state-chartered credit unions.
The NCUA provides a Consumer Assistance Center to help consumers in resolving disputes with credit unions and provides information about federal financial consumer protection and share insurance matters. Consumers can submit complaints and questions.
Provides financial literacy tools and resources.
Provides a guide on how consumers and community groups can charter a new credit union.
The ability to research a specific credit union.
The NCUA provides several services important to credit unions:
Peer analysis resources to measure performance against other credit unions.
Technical assistance grants
NCUA Guarantees the Safety of Consumers’ Money
The NCUA insures member accounts through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF).
Consumers’ checking, savings, and certificate accounts are insured to at least $250,000. It also insures some retirement accounts, including IRAs, which are insured separately up to $250,000. Consumers can look for the NCUA’s logo (See top of this page) at their credit unions to affirm that their money is insured.
Insurance provided by the NCUSIF is similar to the insurance provided by banks through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Like FDIC coverage, NCUSIF funds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
Not one penny of consumers insured money has ever been lost by a federally insured credit union.
Frequently Asked Questions About NCUSIF Insurance
What accounts are insured?
Checking
Savings
Certificate
Money Market Accounts
For a consumer with more than one account, the balances are added together and insured up to $250,000. Retirement accounts, like IRAs, are also insured up to $250,000—that's separate from the $250,000 in other accounts.
What accounts are not insured?
Stocks
Bonds
Mutual funds
Annuities
Life insurance.
How can families increase their coverage?
You can manage your account ownership to have additional coverage on multiple accounts. For example, spouses with joint ownership on an account each have $250,000 for a total of $500,000 in coverage.
For More NCUA Information:
Visit www.ncua.gov or call the NCUA’s Insurance Call Center toll-free at 1-800-755-1030 (press option 1) from 5 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PDT, Monday through Friday.
Consumers can also look up how much of their money is insured at their credit union(s) by using the NCUA’s Share Insurance Estimator tool. It’s easy to enter an accounts number to receive the estimate of coverage.