Students arrived on campus last week to find themselves with limited access to money kept in acounts with the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union. The two automated teller machines on campus operated by the Credit Union were out of order and the bank’s school-year hours did not begin until Monday.
The Credit Union ATMs are located in New South and the Leavey Center. The Leavey ATM’s electronic monitor and hard drive broke down on Aug. 22 and have not been repaired.
The New South ATM operates on a different system. It uses a paper roll to maintain the machine’s balances and print receipts. The New South ATM broke down on the evening of Aug. 23 and was repaired Aug. 27.
The Credit Union did not expect the delay in repairs.
“We were pretty much convinced we could fix the problem,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Petrilli (MSB ‘03) said.
However, the recent ATM problems were more complicated than the common problem of a paper or bill jam. The Credit Union has to wait for ordered parts to arrive before it will be able to repair the machines.
“It’s out of our control,” Petrilli said.
Since the breakdown of the two ATMs, GUASFCU has hired an ATM technician to better prepare for future problems.
“[The breakdown of the ATMs] was bad timing because it was the freshmen’s first day and this is their first vision of the credit union,” said Petrilli.
Half of the first-year class was allowed to move in the evening of Friday, Aug. 23 and the other half arrived on Saturday. To prepare for the first-year class the Credit Union was open Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 26 was the first day of the credit union’s normal business hours which are 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m Monday through Saturday. Over the summer, the Credit Union was open 4 to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The Credit Union is the only bank for students on campus.
An ATM for the Hoya Federal Credit Union, which is for University faculty and staff, is located in Leavey Center as well. An ATM operated by Riggs National Bank is located on the outside of the Ryan Administration building. Both charge a fee for withdrawing money not kept in a member’s account.
