ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Credit unions will likely have to pay a premium of 0.15% of insured shares this year to cover expenses associated with the NCUA's rescue of corporate credit unions. The problems of some large credit unions could cause additional strains on the NCUSIF later this year, the agency added.That's the estimate of the costs presented to the board at last Thursday's meeting, though the final premium amount will be voted on at the board's September meeting.Credit unions will have seven years to repay the $5.9 billion cost of NCUA's efforts to rescue the corporates.Office of Examination and Insurance Director Melinda Love said the 0.15% could change, depending on a variety of factors, including the health of the NCUSIF at that time and decisions made about long-term plans for U.S. Central Corporate Federal Credit Union and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union, which the agency placed into conservatorship in March.Because liability for the rescue will shift from the insurance fund to the Stabilization Fund, credit unions will see their income increase 0.69% because they are recovering expenses they had to impair earlier this year. That money will be deposited into the NCUSIF. In April, the NCUA told credit unions they should book the write-down of their NCUSIF deposits as an impairment as of March 31 and that credit unions would be permitted to delay reporting those impairments if they followed generally accepted accounting principles.The agency issued that recommendation before Congress passed the legislation to create the Stabilization Fund in May.The board was also told that CAMEL Code 4 and 5 credit unions represent 3.99% of all insured shares. At the same time last year, that amount was 1.31%.In response to a question from NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney Hood, Love said that credit unions won't be allowed to revise the statement of the impairments because accounting rules are designed to reflect what happened on a balance sheet at the time.The board also voted to borrow only $1 billion of the $6 billion available from the Treasury Department to create the Corporate Stabilization Fund. Those funds will be used to have the stabilization fund purchase the $1 billion note from the NCUSIF that the insurance fund issued when it injected capital into U.S. Central.Love said there is no benefit to borrowing the remaining $5 billion at this time in terms of locking in better interest rates.Officials at CUNA and NAFCU said they were pleased that the premium estimate isn't higher but said they are nervous about future problems with the fund."The key is continuing to make sure that the impact on credit unions is minimized, especially because the numbers in the insurance fund lead many to believe that there will be more problems ahead," said NAFCU President Fred Becker.CUNA Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Mary Mitchell Dunn said it "looks reasonable," and that the NCUA "tried to take into consideration the practical impact on credit unions, on their balance sheets and in the way they have to do their accounting."Credit unions could face additional costs because of problems facing some of the larger credit unions, NCUA Chief Financial Officer Mary Ann Woodson told the board.The NCUSIF's reserve balance was $5.3 billion at the end of May, and its net income increased by $1.8 million last month. But this year, the fund's net income has been $137.7 million, compared with a projected amount of $205.4 million.There was a $10 million insurance loss expense for natural person credit unions last month and $176.5 million this year.The fund had $23.53 billion in assets at the end of May, compared with $23.54 billion at the end of April.The NCUSIF's equity ratio was unchanged at 1.3%.The fund has paid out $24.4 million so far this year as a result of six credit union failures.Both Hood and Board Member Gigi Hyland expressed concern about the impact of the large percentage of credit unions with CAMEL Code ratings of 4 or 5 on the NCUSIF. Hyland asked Woodson, "When do we start really, really worrying about the situation?"Woodson said her office will continue to monitor the situation and have a more detailed analysis at the July meeting.–[email protected]