OCCU is disaster recovery ready

September is National Disaster Preparedness Month and in addition to working with local service organizations, excellent resources can be found at Ready.gov.  Recently, we’ve had some questions about  what Oregon Community Credit Union (“OCCU”) does to prepare for a disaster and how members can obtain access to their funds in case of a local, regional, or national disaster.

OCCU has made significant investments to help mitigate against the results of disasters.  These investments include multiple network pathways, redundant power sources, preparedness drills, updated policies and procedures, and layered security.

Since member funds are insured by the National Credit Union Association (“NCUA”) for up to at least $250,000 per individual depositor (visit MyCreditUnion.gov for more information), the organization is required to participate in annual audits from the NCUA and the State of Oregon.  OCCU also hires a third-party auditing firm to review our Business Continuity Program and Disaster Recovery testing annually.  We are proud to report that OCCU has received recognition from all parties for our preparedness and disaster response strategies.

At some point, we always come around to the question, “But how do I get to my money if there is a regional disaster, like an earthquake?”  OCCU has redundant data centers and call centers.  In the event of an earthquake, the data centers would have to be taken completely offline before there would be a material impedance to large funds availability.  Even if our data centers were temporarily offline, our ATMs, Shared Branching, and debit/credit card systems all have built in systems to provide funds during a temporary outage.  If the disaster is bad enough that multiple branches become unavailable, please remember that we are a Co-Op Credit Union member and that Shared Branching is available at any other participating Co-Op Shared Branching location across the country.

We care about our members and our employees and want to remind everyone that the safety of both during a disaster will be our first order of concern.  The fact that so many members are participating in preparation for disasters is a relief to all of us here at OCCU.

It is our sincere hope that this brief synopsis helps to address your questions and alleviate some of the concerns associated with the threat of disasters and the security of your funds with OCCU.