Members of three Rhode Island credit unions can now walk into one of more than 2,200 credit union branches in 46 states and, with only an ID, make a deposit or withdrawal from their home-state credit union.
The three credit unions – Wave Federal Credit Union in Providence, Community & Teachers Federal Credit Union in East Providence and Columbus Credit Union in Warren – have joined the California-based Financial Service Centers Cooperative.
Incorporated in 1990, FSCC is an international network of more than 1,100 credit unions. It boasts 11 million members with about $96 billion in assets.
The Rhode Island institutions – the first in the state to join – have a total of about 13,000 members and more than $120 million in assets. By allowing members to access their accounts – fee-free – through others’ branches, it will enable them to compete against regional or national banks, FSCC CEO Sarah Canepa Bang said.
“It’s just like at an ATM,” she said. “You’re not doing business with the bank you’re at – you’re doing business with your own credit union.” Transactions available include withdrawals, deposits, loan payments, money orders and balance transfers.
For Wave and Columbus, joining a national network is an extension of what they’ve already done locally through the R.I. Credit Union ATM Connection, a decade-old alliance of 14 credit unions with about 40 ATMs across the state.
Members of affiliated credit unions can withdraw cash at one another’s ATMs without paying surcharges.
“Most credit unions don’t have a Bank of America or Citizens Bank network to get them around the state,” said Paul Archambault, president and CEO of Wave. “This did that for them.”
Kenneth Saunders, president of Community & Teachers, said FSCC branch-sharing will make his members more comfortable dealing with the small institution, which has a single branch in East Providence and relies heavily on technology to serve its members.
“With a [national] brick-and-mortar option, this all of a sudden makes us a large organization,” Saunders said. When members move or go on vacation, he added, “they want to know that they’re dealing with the people they’ve known for 30 years. It’s a comfort zone.”
Many of the some 5,200 Wave members, Archambault said, spend winters in Florida, and can now deposit pension checks or make withdrawals from their Rhode Island accounts while there.
Locally, too, the FSCC will help, Archambault said. Because Wave’s corporate headquarters will move this summer from Providence to Warwick, members in southern Massachusetts will be able to visit another FSCC credit union.
“We’re hoping this will shorten the drive for them,” he said.
The FSCC is owned and governed by its member credit unions, which average $420 million in assets. The three Rhode Island credit unions – as non-stockholders – will begin as “associate” members, but within three months they could be stockholding “patronage” members, Canepa Bang said. Credit unions in Italy, Japan, Puerto Rico, Germany and South Korea are also FSCC members.
There are 28 credit unions in Rhode Island with about 350,000 members, Rhode Island Credit Union League Vice President Robert Kimmett said, and he foresees more getting involved with the FSCC.
“One of the things we’ve seen as this network has grown in other states is, who’s going to go first and influence the mass,” Kimmett said. Once a few credit unions get involved, he said, others see the benefits and start joining.
The league works closely with the FSCC, Kimmett said, and he encourages members to join because “the idea that credit unions can work together and put their members first is really special – the sort of an idea that people just can’t comprehend among our competitors.”
