Non-Members Reap The Benefits Of CURelief

HOUSTON - (09/07/05) -- Credit unions are taking advantageof a regulatory directive and opening their doors to thousands ofnon-members who are unable to access their savings or have beenrelocated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Campus FCU, in BatonRouge, La., is providing office space to University of New OrleansFCU and cashing checks and providing deposit services for thatcredit union's members. At least a dozen Houston area creditunions, where an estimated 200,000 New Orleans refugees have fled,are cashing checks for non-members, based on different criteria.Houston Postal Employees FCU is cashing checks for U.S. PostalService employees. Others are allowing cash withdrawals fornon-members. Houston Teamsters FCU is providing cash and otherservices to non-member Teamsters who are registered with thenation's union's Central State pension fund, according to LyndaMilton, president of the $4 million credit union. "We're trying tomake sure people have access to their funds," Milton told TheCredit Union Journal. NCUA said in a directive last week thatfederal credit unions may provide services to non-members in thestorm-wrecked area on a limited basis.