Federal credit unions have to April 15 to pay operating fees; insurance fund capitalization adjustments due too

Federally chartered credit unions (FCUs) have until April 15 to pay their 2020 operating fees to their federal regulator, which are generally higher than the 2019 fees, the regulator said Monday.

The National Credit Union Administration, in a Letter to Credit Unions (LTCU), said that the 2020 fees are higher (on average) than the previous year by 1.13%. The agency attributed the higher fees to “increased cash needs for capital investments planned for 2020, as well as the increased budget level.”

In December, the NCUA Board approved an overall budget (including operating, capital and National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund budgets) of $347.4 million for 2020. That’s a 3.76% increase from 2019 (with an overall agency budget of $334.8 million).

In the LTCU, NCUA said that in March, federal credit unions (FCUs) with assets of more than $1 million will receive invoices for 2020 operating fees. FCUs with assets of less than $1 million are exempted from paying the fees. Fees for those not exempted will be based on assets reported as of Dec. 31, 2019.

“At the same time, all federally insured credit unions will be notified of any adjustments needed to maintain their Share Insurance Fund capitalization deposits at 1 percent of insured shares, as required by the Federal Credit Union Act,” NCUA added in the letter. “Your credit union’s capitalization deposit may be adjusted up or down, based on insured shares reported as of Dec. 31, 2019.”

The agency said, for FCUs, it will combine operating fees and capitalization deposit adjustments into a single invoice. State-chartered, federally insured credit unions (which do not pay operating fees but do have to adjust their 1% deposit in the insurance fund, based on asset growth) will receive an invoice only for share insurance fund recapitalization.

Payment for both is due no later than April 15, NCUA said.

Operating Fee Schedule Adjusted for 2020