Common questions from credit union leaders.

LifeNotes is a securitization trust that allows credit unions to contribute their credit union-owned life insurance (CUOLI) policies or collateral assignment split dollar (CASD) promissory notes in exchange for fixed-duration investor certificates. The trust pools assets from 100+ credit unions across 28 states, creating institutional-grade diversification with over $550 million in assets under management and 600+ policies across 22 carriers.

The structure follows the same pooling and securitization mechanics used by Ginnie Mae — applied to life insurance. Your credit union contributes policies or promissory notes into the LifeNotes Trust. In return, you receive an investor certificate with a defined term (10, 15, or 20 years) and a stated yield. The trust is governed by a Pooling & Servicing Agreement and independently audited. Your assets are pooled with those of other credit unions, which diversifies carrier risk, mortality risk, and concentration risk across the entire portfolio.

Death benefit proceeds are distributed pro-rata to all certificate holders in the trust. When a death benefit event occurs on any policy in the pool, every participating credit union receives a proportional share based on their certificate balance. This is one of the key advantages of pooling: instead of waiting for a single executive mortality event on your own policy, you participate in distributions across 600+ policies. This significantly reduces the variability of returns and accelerates effective yield.

Certificates have defined terms of 10, 15, or 20 years — your assets return to you on a known schedule. For CUOLI contributions, you receive monthly yield distributions plus pro-rata death benefit events throughout the term, with remaining value returned at maturity. For CASD contributions, the split dollar loan closes on the defined schedule rather than remaining open-ended on your books until the executive dies. There is no perpetual hold period. The exit is structural, not dependent on a single mortality event.

Participating credit unions receive monthly statements showing certificate balance, accrued yield, and any death benefit distributions. You also receive an annual independent audit report from Doeren Mayhew, quarterly portfolio performance summaries, and updated COMDEX scores for carriers in the pool. All reporting is designed to satisfy examiner requirements and board-level oversight. Your territory manager can walk you through a sample reporting package before you commit.

Most credit unions complete the process in 60 to 90 days from initial engagement to certificate issuance. The timeline includes a free portfolio analysis (1-2 weeks), board presentation and approval (varies by credit union), documentation and legal review (2-3 weeks), and policy or note transfer and certificate issuance (2-3 weeks). We provide board-ready materials and work directly with your legal counsel and auditors to keep the process moving.

The LifeNotes Trust is specifically designed to reduce concentration risk. When your credit union holds CUOLI policies on its own balance sheet, you are concentrated in a small number of policies with a small number of carriers tied to a small number of lives. The trust pools 600+ policies across 22 carriers and 100+ credit unions, with an average COMDEX score of 95 across the portfolio. This diversification converts concentrated, single-life exposure into a broad, institutional-grade asset pool. It is the same principle that makes mortgage-backed securities more stable than individual mortgages.

There is no hard minimum, but the trust is designed for credit unions with meaningful CUOLI or CASD positions. Most participants contribute portfolios with a face value of $1 million or more. If you are unsure whether your portfolio qualifies, request a free analysis — we will evaluate your positions and give you a clear recommendation at no cost.

The LifeNotes Trust is managed by infineo, which brings decades of experience in credit union executive benefits. Capaxa LLC serves as trustee and Doeren Mayhew performs the independent annual audit. This separation of roles — manager, trustee, and auditor — follows best practices for institutional trust governance.