How to name beneficiaries and fund a trust at Webster First FCU
Trust paperwork is taken in branch
The goal with your Webster First FCU accounts is to make sure every account has a transfer mechanism in place—either a POD beneficiary designation or trust ownership. Because Webster First FCU is a membership-based institution, trust retitling must maintain the membership eligibility requirement. Accounts without either one pass through the estate, by probate or the state's small-estate procedure.
Webster First FCU has 14 accounts with different estate transfer rules. Here is how beneficiary designations, trust ownership, and probate apply to each one.
No beneficiary form at Webster First FCU
- The Terms and Conditions apply rules "depending on the form of ownership and beneficiary designation, if any, specified on the account records."
- Account questions go to the Member Service Center at (800) 962-4452.
- Trusts using an SSN: First Rate Checking for Business.
- Trusts using an EIN: Elite Business Checking.
- First Rate Checking for Business: driver's license and Social Security number.
- Elite Business Checking: driver's license, Social Security number, an SS-4 tax ID form or most recent federal tax return, and a Certification of Beneficial Ownership.
- Webster First states that additional documentation may be required.
- First Rate Checking for Business is opened at a branch.
- For Elite Business Checking, the Get Started form asks for contact details and a preferred branch; a member of the commercial banking team follows up.
Required Documents
- Driver's license
- Social Security number
- SS-4 tax ID form or most recent federal tax return (for a trust using an EIN (Elite Business Checking))
- Certification of Beneficial Ownership (for a trust using an EIN (Elite Business Checking))
- The Terms and Conditions apply rules "depending on the form of ownership and beneficiary designation, if any, specified on the account records."
- Account questions go to the Member Service Center at (800) 962-4452.
What Webster First FCU says about beneficiaries and trusts
Each section is Webster First FCU's own statement, with the document it comes from numbered under Sources.
Which accounts take a beneficiary1
- Payable-on-death account
The beneficiary form the Terms and Conditions describe is the Revocable Trust Account: one or two owners (called trustees) create the account in trust for another person. On the death of the trustee, or both trustees, payment may be made to that person or their legal representative.1
Webster First reserves the right to refuse some forms of ownership and beneficiary designations on any or all of its accounts, and makes no representations as to their appropriateness or effect, except as they determine to whom it pays the account funds.1
Which accounts a trust can hold1
- Business account
Trusts open business checking: First Rate Checking for Business is for DBAs and trusts using their SSN, and Elite Business Checking is for partnerships and trusts using an EIN.2
What Webster First FCU says about trust accounts4
- Who signs for the trust
The Terms and Conditions' Fiduciary Accounts clause states that an account "may be opened and maintained by a person or persons named as a trustee under a written trust agreement."1
- Review of the trust document
By opening a trust account, Webster First is not acting as a trustee and does not undertake to monitor or enforce the terms of the trust.1
- Membership
For First Rate Checking for Business, the business owner must be a current Webster First member or live, work, worship, or attend school in Essex, Middlesex, Suffolk, or Worcester County, or the business must be located in one of those counties.3
For Elite Business Checking, the business must have an Employer Identification Number, meet Webster First membership qualifications, and be registered with the appropriate state and/or municipality.4
Not in Webster First FCU's published guidance5
- What the owner provides to name a beneficiary
- A beneficiary designation form
- An online way to name a beneficiary
- A channel for adding a beneficiary
- A certification of trust or trust document requirement
Sources
Data sourced from Webster First FCU primary sources (20 pages reviewed). How we research.
Download these Webster First FCU instructions
Download instructions for the whole estateA printable PDF with the steps, required documents, and contact details — verified against Webster First FCU primary sources. Bring it to the branch or keep it beside the phone.
Webster First FCU estate support
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Phone
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Lost/Stolen Debit Card (after hours)
Hours
Mailing address
Estate requests go through general customer service.
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