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Quorum Credit Union exceeds the minimum financial standards regulators require for a credit union to be considered well-capitalized. Our net worth remains at well-capitalized levels and Quorum has consistently maintained healthy levels of capital and liquidity, even through the most challenging of economic times.

Your Quorum accounts are insured up to $250,000 per person by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF). Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) are insured separately up to $250,000. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), a federal agency, administers the insurance fund and regulates federally insured credit unions. The fund is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.

Depending on how your accounts are owned and what types of accounts you have, you can potentially increase the total insurance on your funds to greater than $250,000.

The Share Insurance Estimator, found here, can help you determine whether your accounts are established and insured appropriately. If you have already utilized the Share Insurance Estimator and still have additional questions, you can also reach out to the NCUA Consumer Assistance Center at (800) 755-1030. Representatives are available from Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET. You can also send an email with your questions to dcamail@ncua.gov.

If you have more than $250,00 in deposits and are concerned that your savings may not be fully insured by the NCUA, you can check the Share Insurance Estimator here to understand what is insured and what portion (if any) exceeds coverage limits.

Depending on how your accounts are owned and what types of accounts you have, you can potentially increase the total insurance on your funds to greater than $250,000 through multiple account owners or trusts with beneficiaries.

MyCreditUnion.gov contains more information about the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund coverage for consumers.

Dividends are essentially credit-union-speak for interest. It’s the money we pay you for leaving your deposits with us.

APY is the amount of interest you earn on money you deposit into a savings accounts (including high-yield savings accounts), over the course of a year. How often interest is compounded is also figured into the APY. 

If you are considering two or more bank accounts for your savings, it pays to compare the APY on each for the full picture on how much your money and account balance can earn over a year.

What is the significance of the APY? In its simplest form, the higher the APY, the more money you earn. If you have $25,000 invested in a one-year term account with a 2.86% APY, at the end of the year, you will have earned $715. With a 2.50% APY, your return would be $625.

You may see a higher annual percentage yield (APY) on accounts that have a higher minimum deposit and a longer commitment for how long you must keep the money in the savings account. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the terms and conditions of any bank account you open. 

A hard pull or soft pull can occur when you open a new checking or savings accounts from an online banking, credit union, or financial institution. A hard pull (which typically happens when a lender checks your credit report to make a lending decision; for instance, when applying for a mortgage) can (temporarily) slightly lower your credit score, and will typically stay on your credit report for two years. A soft pull, on the other hand, is an inquiry performed by a financial institution on your credit report, but does not affect your credit score in any way.

When Quorum reviews a checking or savings account application, we may perform a soft pull on an applicant’s credit report through one of the three major credit reporting agencies (TransUnion, Experian, Equifax) for verification purposes, and also run the name through ChexSystems to see if there is a report in their system. Neither of these actions will impact an applicant’s credit score in any way.

Compound interest simply means earning interest on interest. When interest compounds daily, your interest is broken into 365 smaller payments. When it compounds monthly (Quorum compounds dividends monthly), it is paid in 12 payments. If interest is compounded daily, interest added on Tuesday will earn interest on Wednesday, and then the new amount will earn interest on Thursday—and so on. If interest is added monthly, the interest earned for a specific month will be paid once each month.

While it is true that the more often interest is compounded, the more you stand to earn, it’s important to remember that when looking at APY, you are looking at the annual yield, not the rate. That means, when you see a high-yield savings account that advertises 2.00% APY, you will have earned 2.00% on your balance by year end, whether it is compounded daily or monthly: APY is the equalizer and allows you to compare apples to apples.

As with all depository institutions (savings and commercial banks, credit unions and loans and savings associations), the APY on a traditional savings accounts is variable and closely linked to the Federal Funds Rate set by the Federal Reserve. Rates can go up when the economy is doing well, and they can go down when the economy weakens. Quorum closely monitors Federal rates and looks for ways to remain competitive.

While banks (including online banks) are public, profit-driven companies designed to make money for shareholders, online credit unions are not-for-profit, cooperative financial institutions operated by members and based entirely on the web.

In an online credit union like Quorum, profits are returned to members in the form of low fees for financial products and services. A shared sense of community provides members with peace of mind and a connection to something larger than themselves, as well as loyalty and service to other members.

Online credit unions are carefully regulated and are a safe place to store your money. Just like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures banks, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) insures credit unions.