How to Insure More than $250,000 in Deposits

We’ve discussed examples of why credit unions are safe in tough economic times—from our not-for-profit structure to our robust federal safety net. At Columbia Credit Union, your accounts are fully insured by the NCUA to at least $250,000 (similar to the FDIC for banks), with higher amounts available based on account ownership and structure. But that $250,000 amount is just the start. In fact, you can maximize your NCUA insurance protection to insure more than $250,000… much more.

7 Things to Remember about Deposit Insurance

Before we talk about how to insure more than $250,000 of your deposits, let’s go over the basics of what protection under the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) means.

1. No member of a federally insured credit union has ever lost a penny of insured deposits.
2. The NCUA is an independent agency of the U.S. government, which means your insured deposits are backed by the federal government.
3. At Columbia Credit Union, your accounts are fully insured by the NCUA to at least $250,000 (similar to the FDIC for banks) through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF).
4. Your savings, checking, certificate, IRA, and trust accounts can be insured by NCUA. But investment products such as mutual funds, annuities, and insurance cannot.
5. Accounts you may have at other credit unions do not affect your NCUA insurance coverage at Columbia Credit Union.
6. Accounts you may have at other financial institutions (a bank for example) may also be covered by FDIC insurance and do not affect your NCSIF coverage at Columbia Credit Union.
7. Your money is automatically insured when deposited at Columbia CU. However, it’s a good idea to periodically review the structure of your account ownership and deposits to ensure that you’re maximizing your deposit insurance coverage.

How to Insure More than $250,000

Adding up insurance protection categories through joint accounts and account diversity can increase your protected deposit amounts:

• The deposits of each account owner are insured up to $250,000
• Two joint account owners can insure an additional $250,000, for a total of $500,000
• An IRA is separately insured for up to $250,000
• A trust account is separately insured for another $250,000

In the example above, a joint account, IRA, and trust account combine to reach $1 million in NCUA-insured deposits.

Help Us, Tom & Jerry

Let’s put it another way. If Tom and Jerry have a joint account, they can insure up to $500,000 together ($250,000 for each account owner). But Tom’s also been saving for retirement in an IRA—that nets them an additional $250,000. Meanwhile, Jerry’s trust account is also insured up to $250,000. Their combined household deposit insurance now reaches up to $1 million.

And that’s without taking into account that they’re thinking about having kids—each with the possibility to own half a joint account for an additional $250,000, if their parents are so generously inclined.

How do I learn more?

If you’re curious about the NCUA insurance fund, credit unions in general, or want to calculate your deposit coverage, visit MyCreditUnion.Gov/Estimator.

Do you own business accounts?

Those are insured too, with all business accounts based on unique tax identification number combined and insured up to $250,000.

Still have questions about your deposit insurance? Call, chat, or stop by a branch.

We are here to help! If you have questions about how you are covered by deposit insurance or your accounts at Columbia Credit Union, get in touch! We’d love to chat about your account ownership, structure options, or talk shop about other products that can help bring you financial success. Use the icon at the bottom of the screen to chat with us online or stop by your favorite neighborhood branch.