MIAMI–Credit unions over the weekend in South and Central Florida were dealing with the wrath of Hurricane Irma, while CUs in North Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas are now bracing for the storm.
In the lead-up to the storm many CUs in the affected areas had already shuttered their branches, indicating they will be assessing damage and conditions before announcing any branch or office openings.
In the meantime, CUNA Mutual reported it had activated its CUNA Mutual Customer Disaster Response Team following Hurricane Harvey in Texas and initiated its pre-catastrophe response protocols. Prior to Hurricane Irma’s landfall CUNA Mutual said it had already contacted credit unions in Florida via phone and email communications, and said it will work with its sales partners to ensure a swift response to Irma.
To report any claims, the company urged credit unions to go to https://www.cunamutual.com/.
Meanwhile, on the West Coast of Florida, PSCU said it had contacted its member-owner CUs in the path of the storm to offer assistance. It noted it operates dual, active and redundant data centers in both St. Petersburg, Fla., and Phoenix, and that ahead of Hurricane Irma it had transferred the majority of all activity to the Arizona facility.
Finally, NCUA is reminding that it remains ready to provide assistance to those impacted by the disaster.
When a disaster strikes, NCUA said its personnel operate under three priorities:
- Ensure the safety of credit union staff
- Keep facilities and operations available to members
- Provide material and technical assistance, as needed, to affected credit unions
With President Trump having already issued disaster declarations for the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Florida, which makes federal assistance available, NCUA said its disaster assistance policy for those areas will:
- Encourage credit unions to make loans with special terms and reduced documentation to affected members
- Guarantee lines of credit for credit unions through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund
- Make loans to meet the liquidity needs of member credit unions through the Central Liquidity Facility
- Reschedule routine examinations of affected credit unions
NCUA added its examiners will remain in close contact with the affected local credit unions to offer assistance. The NCUA’s Office of Small Credit Union Initiatives can provide urgent needs grants of up to $7,500 to low-income credit unions that experience sudden costs to restore operations interrupted by the storm.
The agency also reminded that federal credit unions may provide assistance to other credit unions and non-members in the affected areas under certain conditions:
- They may provide services to members of other credit unions under their correspondent services authority
- They may provide emergency financial services for non-members, including check cashing, access to ATM networks, or other services to meet short-term emergency needs of individuals in the areas affected by the floods, under the authority to engage in charitable activities
- If they provide services on a charitable basis, they may not impose charges for services that exceed their direct costs
CUNA, PSCU, CO-OP Partner On Aid
CUNA, CO-OP Financial Services and PSCU have collaborated on a system-wide disaster response for the credit union movement. Special toll-free numbers dedicated to helping credit union members with access and branch information as they may be displaced or their institution unavailable due to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma are now available.
The special toll-free numbers are available in both English and Spanish:
- (866) 564-3519
- (844) 897-2060 (with service options for hearing impaired)
“These unprecedented natural disasters call for a unified response from organizations that service credit unions – whose mandate is always ‘people helping people,’” said Jim Nussle (CUNA), Todd Clark (CO-OP) and Chuck Fagan (PSCU), president/CEO of their respective organizations, in a combined statement.
“CO-OP and PSCU are both CUSOs, but even as competitors, the cooperatives are built and owned by credit unions and truly exist to serve credit unions. The two companies are rallying to support our industry because that's what it means to be a CUSO,” the statement continued.
“We have all been proactively contacting clients and member institutions in the impacted areas to assess needs and determine where we can contribute. More than that, though, CUNA, CO-OP and PSCU will be working together in the long-term to help credit unions smoothly connect with their members, and members connect with their credit unions, in time of greatest need.”
Since the onslaught of Hurricane Harvey, all three organizations are also working closely with the Cornerstone Credit Union League and directly with clients in the area.
“Over the past 10 days, we at Cornerstone CUL have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our system partners,” said Caroline Willard, president/CEO of Cornerstone CUL. “The toll-free hotlines will be a tremendous resource for impacted members in the Gulf Coast. Even better, it adds to the disaster recovery capabilities for the movement moving forward. We are so grateful to CUNA, CO-OP and PSCU for their collaboration.”
CUNA, CO-OP and PSCU have all announced donations to the CUAid relief effort, which can be made at www.cuaid.coop.