CU*SOUTH is offering assistance to all credit unions threatened by Hurricane Irene. As of noon Friday, August 26, Irene was a Category 2 hurricane with wind gusts of 125 mph. Its projected track showed it impacting the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine.
CU*SOUTH’s staff are all too familiar with the danger of hurricanes. “Katrina had the most devastating effect on credit unions,” says CU*SOUTH’s CEO Leo Vaulin. “We saw CU’s who lost their buildings and data processing systems running their credit unions out of the back of pickup trucks, handing out emergency cash to members on a trust basis. That’s a lesson I’ll never forget.”
“We don’t expect anything like this from Irene,” Vaulin continues. “But CU’s need to be prepared for the consequences of disruptions to infrastructure. In 1999, Hurricane Floyd flooded a major data communications hub, disrupting EFT activity throughout the NY/NJ area. Only a small percentage of ATM’s and point-of-sale terminals were operational – so if you had no cash, you were stuck.”
“Communications are the key,” says Mark Bohdanyk, Director of Business Development. “Alert your members to stock up on cash – just in case. Folks in low-lying areas, including New York, are being warned to prepare to evacuate – and adequate cash is important in the event there’s a disruption in the EFT networks.”
CU*SOUTH and CUSO partner Xtend are offering to get the word out to members. “We can provide both outbound and inbound Call Center services,” says Vaulin. “After Katrina, a number of credit unions took advantage of this option to re-establish contact with their members. We had excess capacity, and were happy to make it available to help. You don’t have to be a current CU*SOUTH customer – our goal is to help all credit unions.”
In addition, Vaulin offers the following recommendations:
- Pre-post all warehoused ACH credits by end-of-day Friday.
- Make arrangements with your data processor to handle ACH, draft, payroll, bill pay, and other batch processing in the event your CU cannot open on Monday after the storm.
- Send electronic alerts to all members with e-mail accounts to update member to CU availability, any known problems, and alternatives to getting cash.
- Leave a message on your voice-response system to provide the same information.
- Update your website’s home page.
- If your CU participates in shared branching, remind your members of this alternative – but call ahead to make sure that other shared branching outlets will be open.
Any credit union that wishes to take advantage of CU*SOUTH’s offer of support – either before , or after, the storm – should contact Mark Bohdanyk, Director of Business Development, at 800-293-7554 x647, or e-mail mbohdanyk@cusouth.com. “If you’re interested in Call Center support, we ask you to call as early as possible,” says Bohdanyk. “We will do our best to accommodate credit unions on a first-come-first-served basis.”
Credit unions already using CU*SOUTH’s CU*BASE core processing software should contact Client Services at 800-293-7554 Option 1, to make arrangements for emergency operations and back office support, as well as e-Alerts, CU*TALK custom text-to-speech messages, website alerts, and Xtension Call Center services.
