In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey credit unions are slowly recovering from power outages and damages, some even now open and operational. Many are still conducting ACH and online transactions even if their offices and branches are closed, and are encouraging their members to use online and mobile banking in the meantime.
Below is a list of updates that we at the League have received from some of our credit unions:
1st Bergen FCU – Will be open from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm Friday, November 1st at 291 2nd Street, Hackensack, NJ.
ADP FCU – Roseland office open and operational.
Affinity FCU – Following branches will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.: Basking Ridge, Piscataway, Cedar Knolls, Flemington, Hillsborough, Edison (all other branches remain closed). Online Banking is unavailable, but working to restore it as quickly as possible. Affinity’s Casino Night, scheduled to take place today at 6 p.m. has been postponed. Information will be communicated once available.
Atlantic FCU – Kenilworth office is without power; will open once power is restored.
Bay Atlantic FCU – Operational and all systems are functioning properly. Used DR/BC Plans to service members on Monday.
Bridgeton Onized FCU – Open but no email. Used DR/BC Plans to service members on Monday.
Central Jersey FCU – Woodbridge office open and fully operational; South Plainfield office closed until power is restored.
Community Financial Services FCU – Has no power and will reopen once power is restored. All back office transactions including ACH, share draft and ATM are being processed. Online banking and bill pay are also up and running.
Credit Union of New Jersey – Operational at its main office and branch in Ewing as well at its Lafayette Branch and Willingboro Branch.
Essex County Teachers FCU – CU has power, phone, and DP communications; reported that many shared branching CUs aren't available on the network, communicated these issues to NCUA.
Financial Resources FCU – Bridgewater, NJ branch was open until 3 p.m. (all other New Jersey branches remain closed). Experienced power and telecommunications outages, but otherwise suffered little to no damage. All locations outside of N.J. are operational and processing normally otherwise. The CU’s Web site, mobile, mobile apps, text messaging and other electronic services are up and running. 800 number is not operational.
First Financial FCU – Neptune and Toms River Branches closed at 4 p.m. today, and will both open tomorrow, November 2nd at 9 a.m. with limited service.
Hamilton Horizons FCU – Closed due to power outage. All back office transactions, including ACH, checking and ATM are still being done. Power estimated to come up on Monday, November 5th.
Garden Savings FCU – Parsippany branch re-opened; Newark branch without power and is closed.
Jersey Central – Cranford office open.
Jersey Shore FCU – All offices are fully operational.
McGraw-Hill FCU – 2 Penn Plaza, 1221 Ave. of the Americas, and East Windsor branches are now open and operating under normal business hours. 55 Water St. branch is still closed due to the forced evacuation of the building. Re-established our phone communications. Continuing to monitor Online Banking/Bill Payment and Mobile Banking and Shared Branching locations, which are currently offline.
MidState FCU – CU has remained closed due to thefts and no power in Carteret; posting remotely all ACH drafts, etc. Will attempt to hire off duty police to sit with the staff so that it can open for Friday.
North Jersey FCU – All branches open.
Parlin DuPont FCU – Now have power but no phone/Internet; making due with file transfers and PBF.
Picatinny FCU – Main branch in Rockaway and Denville branch are fully operational. The arsenal had a delayed opening of noon yesterday and the Mt. Olive branch is closed due to power outage. The credit union has allowed NJCUL Business Consultant Angel Santos to work at the Rockaway office for the time being.
Rancocas FCU – Open and operational.
Renaissance CDCU – Credit union has been shut down without power, Internet access, phones, etc. since Monday. Hopefully the power will be back on in the area of the credit union by the end of the day so it can begin processing ACH, Sharedrafts and ATMs.
Rutgers FCU – Busch is open, College Ave. is running on a limited schedule, Newark is closed. All services available.
United Teletech FCU – Currently, Tinton Falls Branch is open for business. Due to local curfews, the CU has modified hours (Lobby: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Drive-Up 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.). All other credit union locations remain closed pending the restoration of power to those locations.
West Orange Municipal FCU – Has a generator and should be able to continue operations with little interruption going forward.
XCEL FCU – Bloomfield, N.J. office OK, but most branch staff depends on PATH and NY subways for transportation. Fed Plaza branch in Manhattan, and Journal Square branch in Jersey City will remain closed until further notice. Branch at 3680 Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City is open. All ACH and share drafts were posted remotely each day.
Opportunities for Assistance
Assistance is available to those credit unions that need it.
Residents and business owners in eight New Jersey counties that were severely affected by Superstorm Sandy can start applying for federal assistance on Thursday.
The money was made available as part of a disaster declaration signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama. It provides federal funds for those affected by the storm in Atlantic, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Union counties.
Assistance can also include grants for temporary housing and home repairs or low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses. Funding also is available to government agencies and certain private nonprofit organizations within the declaration zone.
Residents and business owners who sustained losses within the declaration zone can apply for assistance online at www.disasterassistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or 1-800-462-7585 (TTY) for the hearing and speech impaired.
Thomas O'Shea, President/CEO of Aspire FCU headquartered in Clark, N.J. has communicated to the League that the credit union has come through the storm without power loss and is generously offering its extra office space, cubicles, and Internet access (outside the credit union's secure network) to local credit unions.
The credit union can accommodate approximately 10 to 20 bodies in cubicles, conference rooms, and offices.
Those interested can contact Thomas O'Shea directly at Thomas.OShea@aspirefcu.org or cell 908-403-3666 or contact League President/CEO Paul Gentile at pgentile@njcul.org.
Andy Jaeger, President/CEO of Credit Union of New Jersey is also offering some office space in its training and boardroom for credit unions that are without power. Contact Andy Jaeger at ajaeger@cunj.org or 609-538-4061 ext. 2118.
North American Buildings, a supplier of temporary buildings for disaster recovery, has offered their assistance. Credit unions that are interested can contact Nancy Noonan at nancy@nabsinc.com or 940-391-1385.
Bo McDonald, President of Your Marketing Company, has communicated with the League that they can assist small credit unions that are short on resources and need assistance with PR or marketing to notify members of closings, re-openings, account access information. Your Marketing Company will make its team available free of charge to assist while they work through whatever issues Sandy may have caused. Please contact Bo McDonald at 864-230-1923 or bo@yourmarketingco.com.
The email marketing CUSO DigitalMailer, Inc. has also offered its communication suite of email, text and voice services to New Jersey credit unions free of charge. For more information, contact Ron Daly at 703-733-0339 ext. 102 or at rdaly@digitalmailer.com or info@digitalmailer.com.
Carolyn Warden, Certified Credit Union Executive, a former NCUA examiner and a former CU CEO, offered to donate copies of her record retention & destruction manual to credit unions that have to reclaim/reorganize their stored records so they can determine which records need to be salvaged and which do not. To request a copy, please contact Carolyn Warden at carolyn.warden@live.com or 224-656-6081.
eScope Solutions has gotten in touch with the League and has offered discounted services to credit unions needing assistance. Credit unions can call 800-398-2292 ext. 151.
The National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) has also activated the online disaster relief system CUAid.coop to raise money for credit union people along the East Coast affected by Hurricane Sandy. Credit union supporters in every state can now make donations at www.cuaid.coop.
As donations are posted through CUAid.coop, NCUF will coordinate with the credit union leagues in the disaster area to distribute money efficiently to affected credit union employees and members. 100% of the donations through CUAid goes to credit union disaster relief. In the event that all donations are not used for Hurricane Sandy relief, NCUF will transfer any and all unused funds to its "General Disaster Relief fund" for future disaster relief efforts.
Information on how to apply and the application form are now available on the NJCUL Web site. Click here for the Grant Fulfillment Procedures and here for the grant Application.
Grants will only be given to credit union members, employees or volunteers. There is a limit of one grant per family living at the same address. The grant amounts range from:
Critical - $1500
Very Serious - $1000
Serious - $500
The grant amount is determined by the amount of uncovered insurance losses. Grant applications will be available until December 1, 2012.
NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz contacted the League to offer assistance. She asked that the League let the agency know if there’s anything they do to assist credit unions. She stated that NCUA wants to do what it can to make sure that the residents of N.J. have access to their accounts.
Please communicate with the League if there is anything NCUA can do to help.
The League office currently has power and will be open tomorrow, Friday.
Sincerely,
Paul Gentile
President/CEO