NEW YORK—Credit unions along the eastern seaboard and as far west as Ohio are now assessing damage from Hurricane Sandy to their own operations and on their members.
• For many, the worst part of the storm may have passed, but the waiting game has just begun, as credit union leagues throughout the northeast wait for damage reports to begin coming in from their member credit unions.
"We're all without power and all of the credit unions in the league are closed," said Paul Gentile, president and CEO of the New Jersey Credit Union League. "You can't really drive around, so I don't think we'll know much until tomorrow."
Gentile said that no damage reports have been received to this point, but he suspects that power outages are delaying damage assessments. "The state has a ton of damage, but we have not heard of specific credit union damage yet," he said.
Large portions of Atlantic City are said to be underwater, which may mean damage at some branches there, he said, "but it's hard to say until we hear from them directly."
Power outages remain the primary issue for now, and he said that some officials are predicting service may not be restored to all parts of the state for as much as seven to 10 days. "I'm in Central New Jersey and there's nothing going on; the roads are down and there's no power here at all."
• In Pennsylvania, some CUs are already planning to reopen their doors at noon today, according to the Pennsylvania CU Association's SVP of Communications and Marketing Michael Wishnow. But Wishnow added that credit unions may not be as quick to reopen their doors in Philadelphia and other eastern parts of the state that took a harder hit than the central portion of Pennsylvania where the league is based.
League offices are closed today along with state government, and power outages and downed trees are a problem throughout much of the region, he said.
"Again, I'm sitting in Central Pennsylvania, but in our area I think everything is going to be back to normal by tomorrow. There may be pockets where the power doesn't come back on and that kind of thing, but I think that's probably the biggest concern," said Wishnow.
PCUA has not yet received any damage reports from Keystone State CUs.
• The situation is similar in New York, where the league is still waiting to hear damage reports.
"It's a little early to really have any type of information yet on the impact to some of our CUs downstate, given that there's still no electricity down there and they probably have not been able to get there to assess yet anyway," said Bonnie Sklar, public relations coordinator at the Credit Union Association of New York.
Sklar noted that significant parts of Long Island and Lower Manhattan are without electricity, but "I'm thinking we will know more tomorrow when we can start to reach some of the people and some of our credit unions."
Sklar added that New York may have lucked out somewhat, as New Jersey, "to the best of my knowledge definitely bore the brunt of this more than we did."
A large fire is reported to have destroyed more than 50 homes in Queens, New York, but Sklar said she didn't believe there were any credit unions in the affected neighborhood. Whether or not any of those homes belonged to CU members is still unknown.
• In North Carolina, it hasn't been rain or wind that's closed two branches, it's been snow.
The North Carolina CU League told Credit Union Journal that it was not aware of any significant disruption in credit union operations outside the two offices of State Employees' CU, Raleigh, that closed in the Blue Ridge Mountains yesterday due to the unexpected snow. Both are expected to open sometime today. Another office of State Employees in Nags Head closed early yesterday, the league added.
"Things look good today," said Jeff Hardin, director of communications at the league. "Winds are settling down and we're getting back to normal. Our thoughts now are with the people up north."
• In Virginia Beach, Va., the $1.9-billion Chartway FCU reports that its branches, and most other CU offices the credit union is aware of, have weathered the storm well.
"We had only a few branches with some minor issues from water intrusion," said Heidi Worker, corporate communications director. "Given the improved weather and road conditions in North Carolina, Virginia, and Rhode Island, we look forward to serving our members as per our normal operating hours today."
CFCU's branch in the Newark International Airport in New Jersey, which closed yesterday, remains closed today.
• In Alexandria, Va., NCUA has activated the agency's disaster relief policy, including opening the agency's toll-free consumer assistance hotline to answer financial questions related to the emergency. Credit union members needing emergency assistance related to Hurricane Sandy should call NCUA's toll-free consumer assistance hotline at (800) 755-1030 and press the appropriate option. Operators will answers calls Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern.
Under the agency's disaster relief policy in relation to communities affected by Hurricane Sandy, NCUA said it will, where necessary:
- Encourage credit unions to make prudent loans with special terms and reduced documentation to affected members.
- Reschedule routine examinations of affected credit unions, if necessary.
- Guarantee lines of credit for credit unions through the NCUSIF.
- Make loans to meet the liquidity needs of member credit unions through the Central Liquidity Facility.
- NCUA said it also recognizes that Hurricane Sandy may have affected the orderly conduct of lending relationships with both individual members and member businesses. As a result, NCUA encourages credit unions to exercise prudent efforts to alter terms on existing loans for affected members. Actions may include:
- Extending the terms of loan repayments;
- Restructuring a borrower's debt obligations; and
- Easing credit terms for new loans to certain borrowers, consistent with prudent practices.
- Federal credit unions may also provide assistance to other credit unions, their members, and non-members in the affected areas, under certain conditions:
- 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, can be provided under the authority to engage in charitable activities. Federal credit unions providing services on this charitable basis may not impose charges for services that exceed their direct costs.
- A federal credit union may provide services to other credit unions that it is authorized to perform for its own members or as part of its operations. This activity is part of a federal credit union's incidental powers, so it may impose charges for these services.
