NCUA Account Descriptions
All funds owned by an individual member (or, in a community property state, by the husband-wife community of which the individual is a member) and invested by the member in one or more individual accounts are added together and insured to the $100,000 maximum. This is true whether the accounts are maintained in the name of the individual member owning the funds, in the name of the member’s agent or nominee, or in a custodial loan account on behalf of the member as a borrower. All such accounts are added together and insured as one individual account. Funds held in one or more accounts in the name of a guardian, custodian, or conservator for the benefit of a ward or minor are added together and insured up to $100,000. However, such an account or accounts will not be added to any other individual accounts of the guardian, custodian, conservator, ward, or minor for purposes of determining insurance coverage.
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The interest of a co-owner in all accounts held under any form of joint ownership valid under state law (whether as joint tenants with right of survivorship, tenants by the entireties, tenants in common, or by husband and wife as community property) is insured up to $100,000. This insurance is separate from that afforded individual accounts held by any of the co-owners.
An account is insured as a joint account only if each of the co-owners has personally signed a membership card or an account signature card and possesses the same withdrawal rights as the other co-owners. (The signature requirement does not apply to share certificates, or to any accounts maintained by an agent, nominee, guardian, custodian or conservator on behalf of two or more persons. However, the records of the credit union must show that the account is being maintained for joint owners. There is also another exception in the case of a minor discussed below.) An account owned jointly which does not qualify as a joint account for insurance purposes is insured as if owned by the named persons as individuals. In that case, the actual ownership interest in the account of each person is added to any other accounts individually owned by such person and insured up to $100,000 in the aggregate.
Any individual, including a minor, may be a co-owner of a joint account. Although, generally, each co-owner must have signed an account signature card and must have the same rights of withdrawal as other co-owners in order for the account to qualify for separate joint account insurance, there is an exception for minors. If state law limits or restricts a minor’s withdrawal rights — for example, a minimum age requirement to make a withdrawal — the account will still be insured as a joint account.
The interests of a co-owner in all joint accounts that qualify for separate insurance coverage are insured up to the $100,000 maximum. For insurance purposes, the co-owners of any joint account are deemed to have equal interests in the account, except in the case of a tenancy in common. With a tenancy in common, equal interests are presumed unless otherwise stated on the records of the credit union.
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A trust estate is the interest of a beneficiary in an irrevocable express trust, whether created by trust instrument or statue, that is valid under state law. Thus, funds invested in an account by a trustee under an irrevocable express trust are insured on the basis of the beneficial interest under such trust. The interest of each beneficiary in an account (or accounts) established under such a trust arrangement is insured to $100,000 separately from other accounts held by the trustee, the settlor (grantor), or the beneficiary. However, in cases where a beneficiary has an interest in more than one trust arrangement created by the same settlor, the interests of the beneficiary in all accounts established under such trusts are added together for insurance purposes,and the beneficiary’s aggregate interest derived from the same settlor is separately insured to the $100,000 maximum.
A beneficiary’s interest in an account established pursuant to an irrevocable express trust arrangement is insured separately from other beneficial interests (trust estates) invested in the same account if the value of the beneficiary’s interest (trust estate) can be determined (as of the date of a credit union’s insolvency) without evaluation of contingencies except for those covered by the present worth tables and rules of calculation for their use set forth in Section 20.2031-10 of the Federal Estate Tax Regulations (26 C.F.R. 20- 2031-10). If any trust estates in such an account cannot be so determined, the insurance with respect to all such trust estates together shall not exceed the basic insured amount of $100,000. In order for insurance coverage of trust account to be effective in accordance with the foregoing rules, certain record keeping requirements must be met. In connection with each trust account, the credit union’s records must indicate the name of both the settlor and the trustee of the trust and must contain an account signature card executed by the trustee indicating the fiduciary capacity of the trustee. In addition, the interests of the beneficiaries under the trust must be ascertainable from the records of either the credit union or the trustee, and the settlor or beneficiary must be a member of the credit union. If there are two or more settlors or beneficiaries, then either all the settlors or all the beneficiaries must be members of the credit union.
Although each ascertainable trust estate is separately insured, it should be noted that in short-term trusts the insurable interest or interests may be very small, since the interests are computed only for the duration of the trust. Thus, if a trust is made irrevocable for a specified period of time, the beneficial interest will be calculated in terms of the length of time stated. A reversionary interest retained by the settlor is treated in the same manner as an individual account of the settlor.
As stated, the trust must be valid under local law. A trust which does not meet local requirements, such as one imposing no duties on the trustee or conveying no interest to the beneficiary, is of no effect for insurance purposes. An account in which such funds are invested is considered to be an individual account. An account established pursuant to a revocable trust arrangement is insured as a form of individual account and is treated in the section dealing with Testamentary Accounts.
Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Education IRA and Keogh accounts are separately insured, each up to $100,000. Education IRAs are trated as trust accounts and added to a member's irrevocable trust accounts and insured to $100,000. Roth IRAs wll be added together with traditional IRAs and insured up to $100,000. Although credit unions may serve as trustees or custodians for self-directed traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and Keogh accounts, once the funds in those accounts are taken out of the credit union, they are no longer insured.
In the case of an employee retirement fund where only a portion of the fund is placed in a credit union account, the amount of insurance available to an individual member/beneficiary on his interest in the account will be in proportion to his interest in the entire employee retirement fund. If, for example, the member’s interest represents ten percent of the entire plan funds, then he is presumed to have only a ten percent interest in the plan account. Said another way, if a member has vested interest of $10,000 in a municipal employees retirement plan and the trustee invested 25 percent of the total plan funds in a credit union, the member would be insured for only $2,500 on that credit union account. There is an exception, however. The member would be insured for $10,000 if the trustee can document, through records maintained in the ordinary course of business, that individual beneficiary’s interest are segregated and the total vested interest of the member was, in fact, invested in that account.
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All funds belonging to a decedent and invested in one or more accounts, whether held in the name of the decedent or in the name of his executor or administrator, are added together and insured to the $100,000 maximum. Such funds are insured separately from the individual accounts of any of the beneficiaries of the estate or of the executor or administrator.
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The term “revocable trust account” includes a testamentary account, tentative or “Totten’’ trust account, “payable-on-death’’ account, or any similar account which evidences an intention that the funds shall pass on the death of the owner of the funds to a named beneficiary. If the named beneficiary is a spouse, child, grandchild, parent, brother or sister of the owner, the funds in all such accounts are insured for the owner up to $100,000 in the aggregate as to each such beneficiary. If the beneficiary of such an account is other than the spouse, child, grandchild, parent, brother or sister of the owner, the funds in the account are, for insurance purposes, added to any other individual (single ownership) accounts of the owner and insured up to $100,000 in the aggregate. In the case of a revocable trust account, the person who holds the power of revocation is deemed to be the owner of the funds in the account. If a revocable trust account is held in the name of a fiduciary other than the owner of the funds, any other accounts held by the fiduciary are insured separately from such revocable trust account.
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For insurance purposes, the official custodian of funds belonging to a public unit, rather than the public unit itself, is insured as the account holder. All funds belonging to a public unit and invested by the same custodian in a federally-insured credit union are categorized as either share draft accounts or share certificate and regular share accounts. If these accounts are invested in a federally-insured credit union located in the jurisdiction from which the official custodian derives his authority, then the share draft accounts will be insured separately from the share certificate and regular share accounts. Under this circumstance, all share draft accounts are added together and insured to the $100,000 maximum and all share certificate and regular share accounts are also added together and separately insured up to the $100,000 maximum. If, however, these accounts are invested in a federally insured credit union located outside of the jurisdiction from which the official custodian derives his authority, then insurance coverage is limited to $100,000 for all accounts regardless of whether they are share draft, share certificate or regular share accounts. If there is more than one official custodian for the same public unit, the funds invested by each custodian are separately insured. If the same person is custodian of funds for more than one public unit, he is separately insured with respect to the funds of each unit held by him in properly designated accounts.
For insurance purposes, a “political subdivision” is entitled to the same insurance coverage as any other public unit. “Political subdivision” includes any subdivision of a public unit or any principal department of such unit (1) the creation of which has been expressly authorized by state statute, (2) to which some functions of government have been allocated by state statute, and (3) to which funds have been allocated by statute or ordinance for its exclusive use and control.
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All funds invested in an account or accounts by a corporation, a partnership, or an unincorporated association engaged in any independent activity are added together and insured to the $100,000 maximum. The term “independent activity” means any activity other than the one directed solely at increasing coverage. If the corporation, partnership, or unincorporated association is not engaged in an independent activity, any account held by the entity is insured as if owned by the persons owning or comprising the entity, and the imputed interest of each such person is added, for insurance purposes, to any individual account which he maintains.
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