ALEXANDRIA, Va.–NCUA’s chairman is predicting there are going to be some “wow” reactions from credit unions in 2026 when they receive their “bill” from the agency—and that’s because it’s going to be markedly less.
The reduced invoice will be a reflection of the 20% reduction in agency staffing due to a White House order earlier this year.
Some 259 NCUA staff, or 20% of the workforce, agreed to voluntary separation agreements, essentially buy-outs, the last of whom will be leaving by year-end. Those agreements are projected to cost NCUA $13.6 million more than had been budgeted for 2025, according to acting CFO Melisssa Lowden, who added during the Thursday board meeting that some of that unbudgeted expense is being partially offset by vacancies, reduced travel costs, and elimination of “lower priority services” and contracts.
Specifically, of that $12.6 million, $8.8 million was for paying out annual leave previously earned by separating employees, $3.5 million was for incentive payments, and $1.3 million was for administrative and other costs for separating employees. NCUA is projecting it will come in $7 million under budget for 2025.
The real savings will come in 2026 when the budget for employee compensation will be “substantially lower” than had previously been projected, she added.
Getting Money Back
While the agency will need to hire some people once the hiring freeze expires, and there will be inflation to account for, overall “the people whose money it is should get it back,” said NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman during the meeting.
Stressing several points, including that there are differences between state charters and federal charters and that his calculations were admittedly broad, Hauptman said, “If you just take the gross number (budget savings of approximately $40 million) and divide it by 4,300-some credit unions, this is an incredibly gross number, but the average is about nine grand.”
Hauptman sais that $9,000 figure is the mean, not the median. “I think it’s worth it to know for people doing their planning.”
Hauptman added that while most credit unions didn’t notice it, when adjusting for growth in insured assets, most credit unions saw a “numerically lower” assessment from NCUA in 2025 than 2024.
‘Wow, That’s Lower’
“You’re going to get your bill next year and…they’re going to be like, ‘Wow, that’s lower’,” said Hauptman. “It’s going to be noticeably lower and the reason I want to talk about it today is, even though it’s only September, depending on the credit union that’s enough money that it may affect their planning. Any unexpected change affects your planning and you want to know about it now. And unexpected savings is a hell of a lot better than unexpected costs. There are people out there who may or may not get a job at a credit union because of the savings that’s coming to them, depending on the size of the savings.”
The Hiring Freeze
Meanwhile, Hauptman said he and the agency have fielded numerous questions both internally and externally about the number of “acting” positions within NCUA and the open roles it needs to fill in the wake of that White House order that it reduce its workforce.
But the status of a hiring freeze and a series of 90-day extensions of that freeze by the White House has created uncertainty around filling positions, he said.
“It would be nice if we knew when that final 90 days was going to be, because the federal hiring process takes a while,” said Hauptman, acknowledging the flux “affects humans.”
He indicated it’s been frustrating to some NCUA staff who are in “acting” leadership roles and who question why they can’t be promoted to the post officially, since they are already on the books at the agency. But the freeze does not permit people being named officially to those roles, he explained.
