Web Wealth: How healthy is your credit union?
Millions of people save, borrow, and do other banking at credit unions. In these troubled times, here are several sites that can help you decide on the health of your credit union.
Millions of people save, borrow, and do other banking at credit unions. In these troubled times, here are several sites that can help you decide on the health of your credit union.
Financial reports. To check on the health of a credit union, the National Credit Union Administration provides financial reports on its member organizations. You can choose to have a report e-mailed to you, or you can view summaries on the site. The best way to search is by the credit union's charter number. A checklist allows you to decide whether you want complete records or specifics on, say, income and assets.
Safe & sound. At Bankrate.com, navigate to a report on any credit union or bank. Each is rated up to five stars, with specific notes on such key indicators as the institution's liquidity and nonperforming-asset ratio.
Insurance estimator.
Back at the National Credit Union Administration site, use this calculator to see whether your combined credit union accounts are fully covered by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. In general, the coverage goes to $250,000.
Also check out the FAQ about this federally backed credit union account insurance:
Private insurance.
Some credit unions offer additional coverage - up to $500,000 - on high-balance accounts through the private group American Share Insurance.
Shopping around. If you're looking to compare credit unions and banks, BauerFinancial Inc. offers this Web page, where you pick a state and get a list of all its rated institutions with headquarters there. The lists are alphabetical, but each entry starts with a star rating, with five being the best.
National association. Here's the site of the Credit Union National Association, the industry group, where you can read up on efforts by credit unions to maintain faith in their institutions.