Established by Congress in 1970 to insure member share accounts at federally insured credit unions, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund is similar to deposit insurance coverage provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Credit union members don’t need to apply to share insurance coverage as it’s provided automatically when they join a federally insured credit union. The Share Insurance Fund insures individual accounts at federally insured credit union up to $250,000, and a member’s interest in all joint accounts combined is insured up to $250,000. The Share Insurance Fund also separately protects IRA and KEOGH retirement accounts up to $250,000. The fund is administered by the NCUA and is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.
No one has lost a single penny of insured deposits at a federally insured credit union.
Members can calculate the amount of coverage your insured funds have at a federally insured credit union using the NCUA’s Share Insurance Estimator, which is available on the NCUA’s consumer website, MyCreditUnion.gov. The estimator can be used for personal, business or government accounts. Personal accounts include individual ownership, joint ownership, payable-on-death (accounts with named beneficiaries), living trusts and IRAs