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NCUSIF Insurance of Individual and Joint Accounts

If a member has more than one individual account in the same insured credit union, is each account insured to $100,000 SMSIA?

No. Individual share accounts held by the same member are added together and are insured up to $100,000 SMSIA. An individual share account is an account solely owned by one individual without the right of withdrawal by another individual. IRA, Keogh, and Deferred Compensation accounts are insured separately. See the section on NCUSIF Insurance of Special Accounts for more details .

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What types of joint accounts may be insured?

NCUSIF share insurance covers joint accounts owned in any manner conforming with applicable state law such as joint tenants with a right of survivorship, tenants by the entireties, tenants in common, or an account owned by a husband and wife as community property in states recognizing this particular form of joint ownership.

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If two or more persons, such as husband and wife, have a joint account in the same credit union as well as their own individual accounts, is each account separately insured?

Yes. A person’s interests in joint accounts are insured separately from individual accounts up to the $100,000 SMSIA, provided that each of the co-owners has personally signed an account signature card and has a right of withdrawal on the same basis as the other co-owners. (If state law limits a minor’s right of withdrawal, the account will still be insured as a joint account. The signature of each co-owner is not required on a share certificate.). However, the insurance protection for a co-owner on joint accounts is not increased by rearranging the names of the owners, changing the style of names, or by establishing more than one joint account.The interests that a particular co-owner has in all joint accounts held in the same credit union will be added together and insured up to the $100,000 SMSIA.

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Is the answer to the question above the same if funds in the individual and joint accounts of husband and wife all consist of community property?

Yes. In those jurisdictions recognizing community property, community funds may be maintained in accounts in the individual names of each spouse or a joint account in the names of both. The individual account of the husband and the individual account of the wife will each be insured up to the $100,000 SMSIA. As co-owners, the interest of the husband and wife in the joint account will each be insured up to the $100,000 SMSIA.

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If a person has an interest in more than one joint account, what is the extent of the insurance coverage?

A person holding an interest in more than one joint account may receive up to the $100,000 SMSIA in insurance coverage on the total of his/ her interests in all of those joint accounts. For example, assume that H and W own a joint account containing $110,000 and H and C own a joint account containing $50,000. Since the interests of the co-owners of a joint account are deemed equal for insurance purposes (except in the case of a tenancy in common if unequal interests are shown on the account records of the credit union), H has an interest of $55,000 in the account with W, and an interest of $25,000 in the account with C. H would have insurance of $80,000. W would have insurance of $55,000 and C would have insurance of $25,000. In this example, all of the funds held in the two joint accounts would be insured.

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