NCUA proposes to let credit unions give the share insurance notice online
An NCUA proposal published on 21 October 2026 would rewrite 12 CFR 745.13 so each federally insured credit union picks its own way to tell members about share insurance, including a link to NCUA's website. Comments are due by 21 December 2026.
Most credit union branches have a rack somewhere with NCUA's share insurance brochure in it. NCUA now proposes to stop requiring that rack, and to stop printing the brochure.
The proposed rule, published on 21 October 2026 at 91 FR 66537, would rewrite one section: 12 CFR 745.13, the member notice on NCUA insurance coverage. It reaches every federally insured credit union, so state-chartered credit unions with federal insurance are in scope along with federal charters. Comments are due by 21 December 2026, under docket NCUA-2026-1888.
What the rule says now
Section 745.13 already requires a credit union to tell its members about NCUA insurance of their accounts. It also tells them how. A credit union meets it by placing "either a copy of part 745 of these rules, the appendix [to part 745], or one or more copies of the NCUA brochure" titled "Your Insured Funds" in "each branch office and main office." Copies must also be "made available to members upon request."
That brochure is, in NCUA's words, "currently 64 pages long."
What would change
The proposal keeps the obligation and drops the method. The new text would read: "Each insured credit union shall provide notice to its members concerning NCUA insurance coverage of member accounts." How to do that becomes the credit union's call. NCUA gives examples: a credit union could "continue to make hard copies available," or "elect to provide members with a link to NCUA's website or the eCFR." The notice says the online resources "will be maintained on the NCUA website," and that NCUA "will undertake an update of its share insurance coverage website."
NCUA also says it "intends to discontinue" the brochure as part of this rulemaking. The Board's reason is that the current rule "imposes an unnecessary cost on both NCUA and FICUs," and that the method is more prescriptive than it needs to be now that the regulations are online. It puts the burden on credit unions as "the staff-time and costs of printing the materials." It gives no dollar estimate.
Some things stay as they are. The proposal doesn't set a timing for the notice, and NCUA points out the current rule doesn't either. And it amends only § 745.13. The official sign rule in § 740.4, which has credit unions "continuously display the official sign" at "each station or window," isn't touched. The notice describes § 745.13 as a supplement to that requirement. A footnote also repeats that a credit union must "display the official sign on its internet page, if any, where it accepts deposits or open accounts."
The standard maximum share insurance amount, "currently set at $250,000," is mentioned as background and isn't affected.
A timing wrinkle
One detail is easy to miss. A separate NCUA final rule, published on 24 September 2024 at 89 FR 79397, removes the appendix to part 745, and it "will take effect on December 1, 2026." The Board notes that the text it quotes "reflects the regulatory language currently in effect," which still lists the appendix as one way to meet § 745.13.
So from 1 December 2026 the appendix option goes away under the old rule, and the comment period on this proposal runs until 21 December. Unless NCUA finishes this rule unusually fast, there will be a stretch where the current § 745.13 is still in force and lists only a copy of part 745 or the brochure. The notice doesn't say what NCUA expects credit unions to do in that gap.
What it could mean
For most credit unions this is a small, welcome change. Nobody reads a 64-page brochure at the teller line, and a link to a page NCUA keeps current will probably serve members better than a booklet that goes stale every time the rules move.
Our guess is that the gap matters more in practice than the proposal itself. If your branches rely on a printout of the appendix, it won't meet the method the old rule lists once the appendix is gone on 1 December. A printed copy of part 745, or a stack of brochures while NCUA still supplies them, is the safe fallback until a final rule lands. Check what's actually in the racks before December.
Then decide how you'd deliver the notice if the rule passes as proposed. We'd put the NCUA link on account opening disclosures and the website, and keep a paper copy at each branch for members who ask. The proposal doesn't mention members without internet access, and some of yours will want paper. If you change the method, write down where the notice now lives, so the control that used to say "check the brochure rack" points at something real.
If you think a link alone isn't enough for your membership, or the December gap needs a transition rule, the comment window is open until 21 December.