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Frequently Asked Questions for New State-Charter Applicants and Federal Share Insurance

An applicant seeking to charter a state-chartered credit union will need to submit its charter application to the State Supervisory Authority (SSA). If an applicant also seeks to have the state-chartered credit union federally insured by the NCUA, it will need to submit an insurance application to the NCUA. The NCUA will review the application, including the business and marketing plan, for insurability and will conduct a background and credit review on officials and senior management staff if the SSA does not provide that information. Federal share insurance approval will be contingent upon the applicant obtaining SSA approval of the state charter.

General Questions

What forms and information does a proposed state-chartered credit union need to submit to NCUA when applying for share insurance?

Along with the application provided to the SSA, the applicant will submit form NCUA 9600. This form can be found online on the Credit Union Resources and Expansion page, under Starting a New Credit Union.

If the application to the SSA does not include the following, it can be sent separately to NCUA for the insurance review:

  • Evidence of Member Support—This is typically obtained by surveying a statistically valid random sample of the potential membership), supported by a sample membership survey form and a summary of the survey analysis and results.
  • Market conditions analysis (geographic, demographic, employment, income, housing, and other economic data).
  • Business Plan Documentation, including the following:
    • Mission statement
    • Products and services
    • Goals for shares, loans, and number of members
    • Organizational/Management Plan:
      • Officials (board, supervisory committee, and credit committee)
      • Senior management and credit union staff
      • Qualifications and Planned Training
    • Continuity plan for directors, committee members, senior management
    • Description of physical location
    • Record Keeping and Data Processing Systems
    • Surety Bond Coverage
    • Source(s) and amount of donated capital and other support
    • Plans for Operating Independently
    • Marketing Plan
    • Pro Forma Financial Statements
  • Bylaws
  • Policies for:
    • Major operational areas (such as lending, investment, cash, BSA/OFAC, Truth-in-Savings, director fiduciary duties, reimbursement, ALM, liquidity, vendor management, E-commerce, security, disaster recovery and business continuity/resumption, privacy, identity theft red flags, credit report discrepancies, records disposal)
    • Other advanced services as applicable
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If the SSA is in process of chartering a new state-chartered credit union that will be federally insured, how will the chartering and insurance decisions be coordinated between the SSA and the NCUA?

The charter application should be provided to the NCUA at the same time the applicant submits it to the SSA. The NCUA will review the application and communicate with the applicant and SSA to obtain any additional information, when necessary, prior to making a determination on whether to approve the insurance application.

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Does the NCUA perform background and credit checks on applicants for federal insurance?

The NCUA will coordinate the background and credit check process with the SSA. Generally, if the SSA conducts a background and credit check and shares the results with the NCUA, the NCUA will not conduct a separate check. If the SSA does not do this, the NCUA will need to.

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How long does it take the NCUA to review the insurance application?

The NCUA strives to complete insurance applications within the same timeframe the SSA establishes to complete the chartering application review, but no later than 180 days after receipt of a substantially complete insurance application package. A substantially complete application will include a sufficient level of detail that allows the NCUA to analyze the level of risk to the share insurance fund.

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How does the NCUA’s new Federal Credit Union Charter Application Guide (Guide) apply to a proposed new state-chartered credit union?

The Guide does not specifically apply to a proposed new state-chartered credit union. However, Phase 2 of the Guide contains elements that the NCUA would generally take into consideration when making the decision to insure shares of a federally insured state-chartered credit union (FISCU). The primary contact for the FISCU applicant is the State Supervisory Authority (SSA), not the NCUA.

The information in Phase 2 of the Guide is what the NCUA would expect an applicant to include in the charter application provided to the SSA. We recommend the applicant survey their potential members; however, if a survey is not conducted, we would expect to see well-explained rationale and support for the assumptions in the business plan and pro forma financial statement projections. The NCUA will evaluate the business plan to determine potential risk to the share insurance fund.

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What if I have questions about the insurance process?

Please contact the NCUA Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion, Division of Consumer Access at dcamail@ncua.gov.

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