NCUSIF has the backing of the government

The guarantee that stands behind the NCUSIF sticker on the door of Navy FCU which I joined as a midshipman at the Naval Academy in the early 1970s has always been crystal clear to me. I have no doubt that the vast majority of Americans who belong to federally insured credit unions, as well as banks and thrifts, have a pretty good idea what it means when they read that their “savings are federally insured to $100,000.” In this context, I am baffled by the “challenge” that Mike Welch noted (CU Times Sept. 25) to provide proof of “where it says” that federal share insurance does indeed have the “full faith and credit” of the federal government. To the extent there is such a challenge lurking out there, the law clearly demonstrates that it is badly misplaced. In the Competitive Equality Banking Act (CEBA – P.L. 100-86), Congress sought to reassure Americans, in light of mounting thrift failures at that time, that deposits and shares for all federally insured financial institutions have the full faith and credit of the U. S. government. In the conference report (H. Report 100-261) on CEBA, Title IX is headed the “FULL FAITH AND CREDIT OF FEDERALLY INSURED FINANCIAL DEPOSITORY INSTITUTIONS,” and conferees (in the report and statutory language) reaffirmed “that deposits up to the statutory prescribed amount, in federally insured depository institutions, are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.” Since Congress adopted the conference report and the president signed the legislation into law, it does not get much clearer. In any “discussion” of share insurance it does seem critical to understand that the chances of the United States defaulting on its obligations, whether that be federal deposit and share insurance, or a 10-year Treasury bond, is nil. Everything else, whether that be the obligations of other countries or any other private insurance products -life, property, auto, casualty or deposit – or Amazon stock for that matter, have a level of risk that by historical precedence is far greater than being “backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government.” Fred Becker President/CEO NAFCU Arlington, Va.