Update your ad checklist: NCUA statement rule ends
Published Nov 13, 2026 · Last checked Nov 13, 2026 · Last changed Nov 13, 2026NCUA removed the rule that an ad must carry its official advertising statement. Update your ad checklist and your templates together with compliance. Keep the official NCUA sign in place.
- Verdict
- ACT
- For
- Federally insured credit unions. All sizes. Marketing lead, compliance officer.
- Cost and time
- No cost. About two hours for the marketing lead and the compliance officer.
Why
NCUA announced four final rules on Nov 13, 2026. One of them changes Part 740, the advertising rule. A federally insured credit union no longer has to put the official advertising statement in its ads. NCUA lists Nov 16, 2026 as the effective date. Two things stay the same. The official NCUA sign is still required. Every ad must still be accurate about share insurance. A trade report says the Board called the old rule "overly prescriptive and out of step with modern advertising practices." Short formats such as search ads and social posts have little room, and the statement no longer has to take part of it.
What to do
- Ask compliance to read the final rule for Part 740 and confirm the effective date.
- List every template that carries the statement: print, web banners, search ads, social posts, radio and video scripts.
- Decide with compliance where the credit union keeps the statement by choice, and where it comes out.
- Leave the official NCUA sign in place in branches and on your website. That rule did not change.
- Update the ad review checklist. Keep the lines for APY and its terms, loan terms, and who can join.
- Send the change in writing to your agency and to every vendor that makes ads for you.
- State charters: ask your state regulator whether a state rule adds anything.
The rule to check
Part 740 still requires the official NCUA sign. It still bans any ad that is inaccurate or misleading about share insurance. Truth in Savings still applies to rate ads: show the rate as APY with its terms. Send each changed template through compliance review before you use it.
What can go wrong
NCUA's summary does not say whether an ad may still carry the statement by choice. Ask compliance before you decide. An old template at an agency can keep running for months, so send the change in writing.
Sources
- NCUA press release, primary source, Nov 13, 2026.
- NCUA Deregulation Project page, primary source, Nov 13, 2026.
- The Credit Union Connection, trade publication, Nov 13, 2026.
- The Federal Register page with the full text of the rule did not open at the time of writing.