To understand what the aftermath of a disaster like Hurricane Sandy can do to a credit union look no further than the $1.8 billion Municipal Credit Union. In the difficult days following the superstorm, MCU members became increasingly frustrated and furious, sharply criticizing the New York credit union for what they said were serious lapses and missteps in its disaster recovery efforts.

While Hurricane Sandy had a major impact on many credit union operations throughout New York's tri-state area, knocking out power to millions and leaving behind unthinkable devastation, disaster recovery experts said the MCU experience is a case study that highlights five major lessons that credit unions should learn from and avoid.

What's more, MCU President/CEO Kam Wong explained what the credit union has learned and what steps it is taking to ensure the disaster recovery issues don't happen again. Wong also said he is sorry about how the post-storm problems affected MCU members.