Financial Education Resources for CONSUMERS

Changing the $5 bill and releasing Presidential $1 coins

Expect to see a new $5 bill in early 2008. The U.S. government is planning to redesign the note as part of ongoing security enhancements to U.S. currency. The Treasury has repeatedly told Congress the importance of changing the larger bills every seven to 10 years. The last series of changes were made in 2004 when subtle background colors were added to the $20, $50 and $100 bills. In 2006 the new $10 note was released. In addtion to the new $5 note, the U.S. Mint is issuing four presidential $1 coins per year, and each will have a reverse design featuring a striking rendition of the Statue of Liberty.

 

Skip Probate With POD Accounts

Take one simple step to keep at least part of your estate from being processed through probate court. Fill out a payable-on-death (POD) form for FSU Credit Union accounts. When you die, the money from those accounts goes right to the person you named. Probate can drag on for months or years, and the process can eat away 5% or more of an estate's value. Residents of most states can fill out similar transfer-on-death documents for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds that are not in retirement accounts.

 

Protect Your Social Security Number

Protect Your SSN (Social Security Number)
  • Ask "Why do you need it?"
  • Never give SSN, account numbers, passwords, mother's maiden name, birth date, PIN (personal identification number), or personal information over the phone, unless you initiate the call.
  • Keep SSN off driver's license.
  • Don't carry Social Security card in wallet unless you need it that day.
  • Don't use last four digits of SSN as PIN. Memorize PINs!
  • Don't let clerks handwrite SSN on checks as identification.
  • Don't have SSN preprinted on checks. Re-order them without SSN.

 

Share Insurance Protects Your Savings

Good old "Plan B." It's nice to have something to fall back on when things don't go the way you plan. But when it comes to building a financial cushion for retirement, or saving for college or a down payment for a new house, setbacks can be costly. Safeguarding your hard-earned money is critical. That's why FSU Credit Union has federal share insurance, administered by an independent government agency, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) protects aggregate savings up to $100,000 in your regular share savings, certificates, and share draft/checking accounts. And now, the coverage for individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Keoghs has risen to $250,000. Funds in traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs are added together and insured in the aggregate to $250,000. A Keogh account is insured separately up to $250,000 as well. It's important to note that share insurance doesn't cover investment products such as mutual funds and annuities. Something else about share insurance: It separately insures individual and joint accounts. For example, say you have an individual account containing $100,000, and a joint account with your spouse containing $100,000. Each account is insured separately for a total coverage of $200,000. So how do you know we're federally insured? All federally insured credit unions--like yours--must post the official NCUA insurance sign in their offices. As do other NCUSIF-insured credit unions, we abide by high standards of safety and soundness. Because of that, NCUSIF is a strong, well-capitalized fund. So bring your savings to us: You can count on FSU Credit Union to take good care of it.
NCUA: Your deposits federally insured to $250,000 by the National Credit Union Administration, a US Government agency | Equal Housing Lender | America's Credit Unions: Where people are worth more than money

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