Deposit and Share Insurance
Credit union shares are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), administered by the NCUA, not the FDIC. The standard coverage limit is $250,000 per depositor, per insured credit union, per ownership category - the same structure as FDIC coverage but a different fund and administrator. A frequent exam trap is confusing NCUA with FDIC, or assuming the limit is per account rather than per ownership category.
Ownership categories include single accounts, joint accounts, certain retirement accounts, revocable trust accounts, and business/entity accounts. Coverage is calculated separately within each category, so a member can be insured well above $250,000 if funds are held in multiple categories.
Joint accounts: each co-owner is insured up to $250,000, so a two-person joint account is insured up to $500,000. Revocable trust (POD) accounts: coverage is based on each named beneficiary - generally $250,000 per beneficiary per owner, subject to rules on contingent beneficiaries and beneficiaries with equal vs. unequal interests. Retirement accounts are insured up to $250,000 per participant.
Worked example: A member has a single account of $200,000, a joint account with a spouse of $400,000, and a POD account naming two children with $500,000. Single: fully insured. Joint: $400,000 ≤ $500,000, fully insured. POD: $250,000 × 2 beneficiaries = $500,000, fully insured. Total insured: $1,100,000 across categories.
Traps: assuming a trust with unequal beneficiary shares is treated identically to equal shares; forgetting that coverage is per insured credit union (not per branch); and confusing share insurance with investment or securities protection.