Your Deposits are Insured and Safe

These are historic times for the U.S. economy and financial and investment markets. Recently we have seen Indy Mac Bank in Pasadena fail, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings, LLC, the Federal Government take over of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and a loan to capitalize AIG (a major insurer and financial services provider) and majority ownership by the Federal Government of AIG.

 

This has raised a valid question among consumers and credit union members: Are my accounts insured and safe at Health Associates Federal Credit Union? The answer is YES.

 

The National Credit Union Administration, commonly known as NCUA, is the federal government agency 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 accounts of millions of account holders in all federal credit unions and the majority of state chartered credit unions.

 

You can confidently conduct your personal financial business with Health Associates because no member has ever lost money insured 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 (similar to checking), money market accounts, and share certificates. An individual 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 time in a single credit union, there are several options available to you. Joint accounts are savings or share draft 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 interest at each federally insured credit union. For example, a two person joint account has $200,000 in coverage. This coverage is separate from and in addition to the coverage available for other accounts such as individual accounts and retirement accounts.  Business merchant accounts are seperate and do not qualify for coverage.

 

The NCUSIF provides separate coverage for both revocable and irrevocable trusts. Revocable trust accounts may qualify for insurance coverage of up to $100,000 per beneficiary named by the owner that is separate from the individual coverage available to the trust owner. The beneficiaries must be the revocable trust owner's spouse, child, grandchild, parent, brother or sister.

 

For example, if a person with a revocable trust for $300,000 names a spouse, and two children as beneficiaries, the entire $300,000 would have separate NCUSIF coverage ($100,000 per beneficiary). Likewise funds placed in an account by a trustee under an irrevocable trust have separate coverage based on the beneficial interest under such a trust.

 

Members with a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) have $250,000 of insurance coverage. If a member had both an IRA and a Roth IRA would have aggregate, separate coverage of $250,000. While a member with a Keogh Retirement Account would have separate, additional coverage of $250,000. Again these additional amounts of retirement account insured coverage are in addition to the $250,000 of coverage a member would have on all other combined savings-related individual accounts. If you would like more detailed information, click here to go to NCUA's Internet site.