Media Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NCUA Activates Disaster Assistance in Response to Hurricane Ike  

Alexandria, Va., September 15, 2008 -- The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) has activated its disaster relief policy to assist credit unions and their members affected by Hurricane Ike in Texas and Louisiana.

President George W. Bush has declared a disaster emergency exists and has ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the 29 Texas counties of Angelina, Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Cherokee, Fort Bend, Galveston, Grimes, Hardin, Harris, Houston, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Madison, Matagorda, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Orange, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler, Walker, Waller, and Washington.  A disaster emergency also exists in the 14 Louisiana parishes of Acadia, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafourche, Plaquemines, Sabine, St. Mary, Terrebonne, Vermilion and Vernon.

Under its disaster assistance policy, NCUA will, where necessary:

1. Encourage credit unions to make loans with special terms and reduced documentation to affected members;
2. Reschedule routine examinations of affected credit unions if necessary;
3. Guarantee lines of credit for credit unions through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund; and
4. Make loans to meet the liquidity needs of member credit unions through the Central Liquidity Facility.

NCUA works with individual state league organizations and state regulators to ensure all federally insured credit unions are aware of NCUA’s available assistance. Region IV examiners are closely monitoring the situation and will provide assistance as requested or needed.

During disaster conditions, NCUA personnel operate under three priorities:

• Determine the safety of credit union staff and operational condition of credit unions;
• Provide needed material and technical assistance to affected credit unions; and
• Return credit unions to normal operations as quickly as possible.

September 11, 2008, NCUA issued a public service announcement to alert credit union members in the path of Hurricane Ike of assistance available to access their funds – toll-free information line 1-888-584-6847 and additional contact and status information is available online at www.ncua.gov

NCUA Hurricane Ike Status Report

September 15

NCUA’s Region IV Texas and Louisiana staff are accounted for and all are safe — some are without power and others cannot return to their homes. 

Credit union assessment --

NCUA identified 179 credit unions with combined assets of $12.7 billion, serving 1.7 million members, who were adversely affected by Hurricane Ike.  Some areas were hit harder than others and will take longer to contact and to restore operations.   Hardest hit areas include:

• Galveston (five credit unions, $53 million in assets, 14,237 members).  Galveston citizens were evacuated without any timeframe for return.
• Beaumont (ten credit unions, $527 million in assets, 81,999 members). 
• Bridge City (one credit union, $33 million in assets, 5,436 members).  Over 90 percent of this low-lying town was severely flooded.

There are 78 credit unions in the city of Houston. Many are without power, and some may have suffered serious wind damage. 

NCUA is closely working with the Texas Credit Union League and the Texas Credit Union Department in an effort to assist credit unions in restoring service to members. NCUA is attempting to contact all credit unions today, with the most immediate focus on those in the hardest hit areas with the largest memberships. As power will be out in some areas for up to four weeks (or longer in areas like Galveston), NCUA is advising all credit unions, that haven’t done so, to implement their disaster recovery plan and restore operations at alternate locations.

Texas has a large shared branching network, and many affected credit unions are system partners. The league has contacted all partners and assessed their operating status. A large percentage has already restored operations at alternate locations, or were in the process of doing so when contacted over the weekend.

Member accounts in all federally insured credit unions affected by the storm are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), a federal fund backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

The National Credit Union Administration is the independent federal agency that charters and supervises federal credit unions. As part of NCUA, the NCUSIF insures the savings of more than 88 million account holders in all federal credit unions and most state-chartered credit unions.

-NCUA-