In order to make banking easier and more accessible for NIU students, the Student Association is conducting a survey to determine if students would support a student credit union.

Jason Broderick, an NIU student working on opening the credit union, said, “The SA will be conducting a telephone survey sometime in the next few weeks to see if there is a need for the credit union, and the survey also will ask what type of banking institution they are presently using.”

If there is a positive response to the survey, the next step would be to contact a representative from the federal credit union to find out what needs to be done in order to open a credit union on campus, Broderick said. In addition, if the students support the credit union, it should open either this summer or fall, he said.

“The credit union is tailored to meet the needs of the students,” Broderick said. The credit union would provide students with savings accounts, checking accounts, credit card services and students would be able to receive small loans.

Several advantages to the credit union are free checking, high interest rates on savings accounts and low interest rates on loans, Broderick said. Students could receive loans to pay tuition, rent or car payments, he said.

In addition, the credit union would be run by students on a volunteer basis, including a board of directors equipped with a president, vice president and a treasurer, Broderick said. Also, the money would be federally insured, and the treasurer would be bonded to ensure the money would not be stolen.

Committees also would be set up, including an audit committee that would audit the credit union once a year, which also would be run by student volunteers.

In order to be a member of the credit union, students must complete an acceptance application form. Once a person becomes a member, he automatically receives one share in the credit union. The more money deposited into his savings account, the easier it will be for him to receive a loan.

Students, their immediate family and alumni are eligible to be members of the credit union.

Jon Dalton, vice president of Student Affairs, said the concept of opening a credit union deserves consideration and students could benefit from such an arrangement. “(However), there are some concerns about state and federal laws that apply to credit unions,” Dalton said.

Dalton said he is not familiar with regulations concerning the role the university would play in the credit union. He said he does not know if NIU would be required to be directly involved or not. Currently, Dalton is working with the SA on the proposal for the credit union.

Broderick said the location for the credit union has not yet been determined, and he does not know how much it would cost to set up a credit union.

Broderick said he has talked with other student credit unions which have been successful, including the one at the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago’s credit union is in its third year, and it offers savings accounts, checking accounts, credit card services and guaranteed student loans. They have student tellers as well as automatic tellers.

Students, their families and alumni can become members of the credit union. A member receives one share when a savings deposit is made. Instead of receiving interest on the savings account, the member receives a percentage of the dividend, and the more money he has in the account, the greater the precentage he will receive.

Their credit union is run by student volunteers, except for two paid positions, the manager and the assistant manager. They have a supervisory committee which is permitted to count the tellers’ drawers at any time.

Because there are no business or finance students at the university, the students are not qualified to audit the credit union. Therefore, the supervisory committee hires a federally qualified audit service.