An official website of the United States government News | Español | Contact Us | Site map | Locate a credit union | Research a credit union Home > Newsroom > Responding to the Collapse of the New York City Taxi Medallion Market > Press Releases and Statements Press Releases and Statements Frequently Asked Questions on the NCUA’s Sale of Its Taxi Medallion Portfolio Frequently Asked Questions about Taxi Medallion Lending and the NCUA’s Supervision and Response to the Medallion Market Collapse Frequently Asked Questions about Taxi Medallion Lending and the NCUA’s Supervision and Response to the Medallion Market Collapse General Questions What are taxi medallions, and how are they used to obtain loans? Are taxi-medallion loans considered business or personal loans? What is a balloon payment, and why is it used in these types of business loans? Why were credit unions allowed to make taxi-medallion loans? Does specializing in one type of lending increase a credit union’s risk? What happened to the taxi medallion market? Could the NCUA have done anything to prevent this from happening? When the credit unions that support the taxi industry got into trouble, how did NCUA respond? What does it mean for a credit union to be conserved? What does it mean for a credit union to be liquidated? What is the NCUA’s role as liquidating agent? What are the deposit insurance levels offered to credit union members? What else did NCUA do to protect the former members and borrowers of these credit unions? Many taxi-medallion borrowers are under financial strain. What has NCUA done to help them? Why were you not able to modify or refinance more loans? Did the NCUA employ improper debt collection practices? Why has the NCUA not been transparent about its actions? How much did the failure of the taxi medallion credit unions cost? Is there a possibility that the financial trouble that affected these taxi credit unions could spread? How is the NCUA improving its examination program following the failure of these credit unions? 1 Updated estimate post-sale. Last modified on 06/18/20 Home Contact Us News Careers About NCUA Site Map FOIA No Fear Act Whistleblower Protection Open Government Data Accessibility Plain Writing Privacy Site Index USA.gov Office of Inspector General Website Policies National Credit Union Administration, 1775 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA 22314