ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Federally insured credit unions found out what they had long expected last week, they will have to pay a 0.15% premium to replenish the NCUSIF and help the Corporate Stabilization Fund repay the loan from the Treasury Department.The NCUA Board voted unanimously last Thursday to assess the premium, which will be billed in mid-November and due in mid-December, because of the problems that some corporate and natural person credit unions have faced in the past year and the slow economic recovery projected for the remainder of this year and next.The premium will ensure that the NCUSIF's equity ratio is 1.3% and enable the Stabilization Fund to repay $310 million of the funds it borrowed from the Treasury Department.Credit unions with assets of less than $50 million will have their premiums for the NCUSIF portion based on the number insured shares as of last Dec. 31 while those with more than $50 million in assets will have it based on the number of insured shares as of June 30, 2009.Premiums for the Corporate Stabilization Fund will be based on insured shares as of June 30, 2009.Melinda Love, the director of NCUA's Office of Examination and Insurance, told the board that the staff will likely recommend additional premiums during each of the next two years but said it is too early to predict how much those will be. But when asked by several board members, she said credit unions should set aside 0.15%.She outlined the severity of the financial situation and noted that the sluggish economy and slow job growth will cause credit unions to suffer high rates of loan delinquencies, and they will find it hard to regain capital that they had lost. This could jeopardize the health of credit unions and, if they fail, place additional strains on the NCUSIF.At the end of August, there were 315 credit unions-representing 4.55% of all insured shares-with CAMEL ratings of 4 or 5, compared with 242 at the end of August 2008, which represented 1.93% of insured shares.NCUA Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann Woodson told the board that the NCUSIF's reserve balance was $523.6 million at the end of August. The fund's net income declined $8.5 million in August. This year, the fund's net income has been $514.4 million, compared to the projected amount of $1.7 billion.The fund had $19 billion in assets at the end of August, compared with $18.8 billion at the end of July. The NCUSIF's equity ratio was unchanged at 1.3%.The Corporate Stabilization Fund, which Congress created in July at the request of the NCUA and the credit union trade associations following the conservatorships of U.S. Central and Western Corporate Federal Credit Unions, has $6.33 billion in estimated liabilities, a $1 billion capital note for U.S. Central, as a result of the money the agency injected into the troubled corporate earlier this year, and $5.33 billion liability reserve for the fund.The fund has borrowed $1 billion and has an interest payment due next June.Credit unions will have seven years to repay the $5.9 billion cost of the NCUA's efforts to rescue the corporates.Love said her office recommended the amount of premium after performing five stress tests that included several worst-case scenarios.The board also voted to shift the investment strategy of the Central Liquidity Facility to take steps to build up the retained earnings of the CLF so it can use those earnings to fund its operations. The CLF will accomplish this by moving its deposit from U.S. Central to the U.S. Treasury.Since U.S. Central will no longer be acting as an agent for the CLF, the money that had been paid to U.S. Central for performing that function will go to credit unions that are members of CLF.The board also voted to clarify that the NCUA fully backs notes issued by corporate credit unions in the capital market as part of the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Liquidity Guarantee Program.Trial Attorney Dianne Salva said there had been confusion about this and clarifying it would make it easier for corporate credit unions.NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz said it was a "technical correction but an important change."The meeting was Matz's first as chair. She began the meeting by saying how pleased she was to be back on the board, on which she served as a member from 2002-2005, and praising the work of Board Members Gigi Hyland and Michael Fryzel and the agency staff during the financial crisis.She said without their work "what was a bad year for credit unions would have been a catastrophic year."–[email protected]