Wright-Patt CU Cuts Fees to Ease COVID-19 Financial Pressures

Credit union officials say they've been working hard to find different ways to help members during this economic crisis.

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In response to financial pressures created by the coronavirus pandemic, Ohio’s Wright-Patt Credit Union is eliminating some fees and reducing others.

The credit union announced Aug. 24 that it has eliminated a $5 fee it charged for transfers from savings when a member overdrafts, and it is doing away with an early withdrawal fee for club accounts.

Additionally, the announcement said, non-sufficient funds and courtesy pay fees for check and ACH items have been reduced from $25 to $19 per item. And the credit union’s inactivity fee has been reduced from $5 per month to $1 per sub-account.

Based in Beavercreek, Ohio, WPCU has more than 408,000 members in central and southwest Ohio, and more than $5.7 billion in assets.

“It’s not too often that you hear about a bank or credit union lowering fees to help their members, so we’re very excited to be able to do this,” Tracy Szarzi-Fors, vice president of marketing and business development for WPCU, said in a statement.

Doug Fecher, president/CEO of WPCU, noted that the credit union previously took other steps in response to the pandemic, including the creation of temporary emergency relief programs and implementation of social distancing and other safety measures.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been working hard to help our members and the people in the communities we serve by balancing the safety and health of our member-owners, partner-employees and guests with our obligation to provide members access to their money,” Fecher said in a statement. “Now we have the unique opportunity to continue helping our members by eliminating and reducing several fees.”