January 22, 2011 in Blog by Jamie Lee
The Independent student newspaper features Georgetown’s student credit union
Reporters at The Georgetown Independent student newspaper, Robert Schaus and Roberta Taggart, wrote an informative feature about GUASFCU — Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union.
The Waterloo Banking Project draws portions of its inspiration on the success of this model. The GUASFCU has been operating since 1983, supported by university staff and over 12,000 students and alumni, and holds assets in excess of $15 million. The organization is recognized for its community-based approach that emphasizes great customer service, higher savings rates, and lower borrowing costs. Drawing on these principles, a reputation for integrity and prudence, and an unpaid student staff, the organization is able to remain competitive despite their relatively small size.
Many of these values form the foundation upon which we expect to build a student-run financial institution in Waterloo; like the GUASFCU, we recognize our fiscal responsibility to the community. You can find the link to the entire article below, but here are a few highlights:
“GUASFCU celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008 and reached an all-time asset high of $16 million this September.
[...]
The founders, including transfer student Alice Rousseau, faced a good deal of skepticism when working to establish a student run depository.
[...]
For example, today GUASFCU has the option of taking new deposits and investing them in a three year Treasury bill that would pay only 0.55%, or it could take the same deposit and lend it out to a recent graduate to buy a car at 4.75%, or to a student at 8.75% as an unsecured personal loan. However, GUASFCU only lends around 10% of it’s assets to students and alumni.
[...]
As to the notoriously hard interviews of underclassmen, Mehta says that GUASFCU is “a student organization that doesn’t make student mistakes. Because we can’t. We’re a financial service. There’s a different aspect when you’re buying a soda from a place and when you’re trusting them with tens of thousands of dollars, so it’s a little more serious as a result of that. It’s not us trying to be stuck up in any way; it’s us knowing our fiduciary responsibility to the community.”
[...]
GUASFCU, unlike The Corp, operates on a volunteer basis. No one—from the freshman teller up to the Board of Directors—has earned a dollar during their time at the Credit Union.
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However, running a credit union on a volunteer basis is quite common for an institution of GUASFCU’s size.
— GUASFCU: Behind the Glass The Georgetown Independent 1 Nov 2010
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