League offices and dozens of credit unions from the Carolinas to Maine were forced to close Thursday as a massive winter storm generated heavy snowfalls, below zero temperatures and hurricane-force winds that are expected to cause widespread power outages.
The Connecticut Credit Union League and the Cooperative Credit Union Association, which serves credit unions in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Delaware, announced Thursday morning that its offices were closed, but that its staff members were working from home to service members.
“Due to the inclement weather throughout the East Coast, the Cooperative Credit Union Association is operating in a business continuity mode today,” the CCUA said in a prepared statement. “Staff will be working remotely to assist credit unions throughout the day, receiving e-mails and voice mails in a business-as-usual manner.”
The Connecticut league also said its staff employees were working from their homes to serve their members.
Dozens of credit unions in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware, South Carolina and other states closed branches and call centers for the day, while some credit unions announced they would be closing later on Thursday and others shut down only some locations in their branch network.
Eastern Massachusetts and most of Rhode Island may see as much as 18 inches of snow, and the National Weather Service warned of wind gusts hitting near 70 mph, the Associated Press reported.
What’s more, the National Weather Service posted possible blizzard conditions for parts of Delaware, Virginia and Maryland; coastal New Jersey; eastern Long Island, and New England’s eastern coast.
New York’s largest credit union, the $7.2 billion Bethpage Federal Credit Union, closed all of its branches and offices, and so did a number of credit unions on Long Island and throughout New York City.
Even though the $2.6 billion Municipal Credit Union in New York City and the $1.4 billion Melrose Credit Union in Briarwood announced they were open for business Thursday morning, they expected to close shop early.
The snowstorm also forced the $1.6 billion South Carolina Federal Credit Union in North Charleston to close all of its branches except for its branch in Columbia. Other credit unions in South Carolina such the $2.1 billion Founders CU in Lancaster, the $1.4 billion Sharonview FCU in Fort Mill, and the $1 billion SAFE FCU delayed opening their branches Thursday.
