I was glad to see coverage of America's credit unions in yesterday's MSNBC/Motley Fool article. However, I would like to point out a significant inaccuracy in the article that could negatively impact some of America's most successful credit unions. The article makes the incorrect statement that 'not all credit unions are insured' and 'a few credit unions remain uninsured' along with 'Before signing up with a credit union, ensure that it's insured.'

It is correct that not all credit unions are insured through the NCUA. However, ALL U.S. credit unions must be insured per federal and state regulations. If not by the NCUA then they must be insured privately through organizations such as American Share Insurance. Many credit unions have in fact chosen private insurance as a way to provide more insurance benefit to members in excess of the $100K offered through the NCUA (a number that arguably hasn't changed in many years to keep up with the times). A few of the largest and most reputable U.S. credit unions have recently opted away from NCUA insurance to provide their members with greater insurance coverage -- For example, the $3.8 billion dollar Patelco Credit Union in San Francisco, or $832 million dollar Silver State Schools Credit Union in Nevada. FYI, Patelco Credit Union has over 226 thousand members and all deposits are now insured up to $250,000 per account -- covering most of the 20% of deposits that were previously in excess of the $100K NCUA coverage.

I hope to see a swift correction to the article. While considering this, I should point out that it would also be inaccurate to portray privately insured credit unions as unsafe for consumers. This is not the case given the structure, soundness, and government regulation that governs privately insured credit unions and their insurers...however, unfortunately this remains a common misconception. In fact, the current NCUA federal credit union share insurance program is based on the model developed by American Share Insurance privately.

Thus, my recommendation would be to remove the non-insurance bullet point entirely.

More related references:
Why Patelco (and subsequently other CUs) have pursued non-NCUA insurance options to benefit their members:
http://www.creditunions.com/home/articles/template.asp?article_id=819

American Share Insurance (the largest private insurer for America's credit unions for nearly 30 years):
http://www.americanshare.com/

Thank you for your attention to this matter.