NCUA Insurance :: VyStar Credit Union

Protecting your deposits
NCUA Insurance

The deposits you have in VyStar Credit Union are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), an arm of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

The NCUA is an independent agency of the United States Government. NCUA regulates, charters, and insures the nation's federal credit unions. In addition, NCUA insures state-chartered credit unions that desire and qualify for federal insurance. In some states, state-chartered credit unions are required by state law to be federally insured.

Established by Congress in 1970 to insure member share accounts at federally insured credit unions, the NCUSIF is managed by NCUA under the direction of the three-person NCUA Board. The members of the NCUA Board are nominated by the President of the United States of America and confirmed by the Senate. Your insurance is similar to the deposit insurance protection offered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Here are some important facts to remember about your share insurance:

Not one penny of insured savings has ever been lost by a member of a federally insured credit union.The federal insurance fund has several programs to help insured credit unions which may be experiencing problems. Liquidations or failures are a last resort. If a federally insured credit union does fail, however, the NCUSIF will make any necessary payouts to the credit union’s members. These payouts are usually done within 3 days from the time the credit union closes its doors.
As a member of an insured credit union, you do not pay directly for your share insurance protection.Your credit union pays into the NCUSIF a deposit, and an insurance assessment, based on the total amount of insured shares and deposits in the credit union. Insured credit unions are required to deposit and maintain one percent of their insured shares and deposits in the NCUSIF. The NCUSIF is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
Most properly established share accounts in federally insured credit unions are insured up to the Standard Maximum Share Insurance Amount (SMSIA), which is $250,000. Certain retirement accounts, such as IRAs, have insurance coverage up to $250,000. Generally, if a credit union member has more than one account in the same credit union, those accounts are added together and insured in the aggregate. There are exceptions, though. You may obtain additional separate coverage on multiple accounts, but only if you have different ownership interests or rights in different types of accounts and you properly complete account forms and applications. For example, if you have a regular share account and an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) at the same credit union, the regular share account is insured up to $250,000 and the IRA is separately insured up to $250,000. However, if you have a regular share account, a share certificate, and a share draft account, all in your own name, you will not have additional coverage. Those accounts will be added together and insured up to $250,000 as your individual account. Additionally, shares denominated in foreign currencies are insured as outlined in NCUA Rules and Regulations.

Use the NCUA Insurance Estimator: The estimator will guide you through a series of questions about you and the accounts you wish to calculate share insurance for and help you understand your share insurance protection. The estimator can help you: determine if you have adequate share insurance for the accounts you have at a single NCUSIF - insured credit union and estimate the share insurance you have for the following accounts: Single Ownership Accounts, Revocable Trust Accounts, Joint Accounts, and IRA Accounts.

NOTICE OF CHANGES IN TEMPORARY NCUA INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR TRANSACTION ACCOUNTS

All funds in a ‘‘noninterest-bearing transaction account’’ are insured in full by the National Credit Union Administration through December 31, 2012. This temporary unlimited coverage is in addition to, and separate from, the coverage of at least $250,000 available to members under the NCUA’s general share insurance rules. The term ‘‘noninterest-bearing transaction account’’ includes a traditional share draft account (or demand deposit account) on which the insured credit union pays no interest or dividend. It does not include any transaction account that may earn interest or dividends, a negotiable order of withdrawal (‘‘NOW’’) account, money market deposit account, and Interest on Lawyers Trust Account (‘‘IOLTA’’), even if share drafts may be drawn on the account. For more information about temporary NCUA insurance coverage of transaction accounts, visit www.ncua.gov.

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