| Access
to cash post-Hurricane Katrina | | |
| Barr says all FDIC-member banks
are required to have extensive contingency plans for all types of disruptions.
Banks must have backup systems of records and other built-in duplications that
are housed in safe locations so all critical financial records can be reconstructed
and restored. As always, accounts held at any FDIC-insured institution will be
protected up to the FDIC limit of $100,000.
As of Sept. 5, the FDIC has made contact with all
of the insured institutions in the affected area and is working to determine their
status. Customers seeking up-to-date information about their
bank should visit the FDIC's Katrina-related
Web site to find out which banks or branches are open or to obtain advice
and answers to common questions. The agency also has new 24-hour consumer hot
line: 877-ASK-FDIC. Members of credit unions are advised to
visit the National Credit Union Administration Web
site to get more information about the status of their financial institutions.
The NCUA, too, has established a toll-free phone number, 800-827-6282, to assist
with credit union-related account matters, and this government agency is also
making available a continually updated
list detailing the status of the affected area's credit unions. Going
the extra mile
"A crucial part of getting people's lives back
to normal will be ensuring they are able to get access to banking services,"
said Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow at a meeting with banking regulators.
"There is an ongoing, comprehensive effort to ensure that the financial system
continues to work. ... Efforts are being made, across the board, to identify customer
needs and to meet those needs. Each of the regulators here today are asking the
institutions they oversee to consider all reasonable and prudent steps to assist
customers' cash and financial needs in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina."
Some of the steps that depository institutions have been asked
to adopt are: waiving ATM fees for customers and noncustomers, increasing ATM
daily cash limits, easing restrictions on cashing out-of-state and noncustomer
checks, delaying delinquency notices to credit bureaus and easing credit card
limits and terms for new loans. The Treasury has
made a special plea for financial institutions to waive their normal ATM fees
for people who use the FEMA-issued debit card. "That's
the immediate concern," says Barr, "how these people can get cash so
they can exist and buy necessities. Then, after that, it's about restoring services
for them. ... and then, thinking long term, helping
them to rebuild their lives and their homes. What we're all trying to do, together,
is help them to get access to their funds. We're thinking outside the box to help
people who maybe didn't even have the time to grab a driver's license or checkbook
when it was time to evacuate." Depository institutions
have been asked to be more reasonable in their approach to verifying the identity
of individuals temporarily displaced by Hurricane Katrina. They have also been
encouraged to allow use of nondocumentary verification methods for customers who
may not be able to provide standard identification documents. | 
