Plans Roll on For Student-Run Online Credit Union

The pandemic has delayed, but not stopped plans by a group of students at George Washington University to open a credit union that will serve students completely online, with no physical branch.

In April, CU Times reported that the group led by Sahil Pankhaniya was trying to raise more capital so they could obtain a federal charter from the NCUA as early as May to serve the 12,500 undergraduates who study at the nearly 200-year-old private university in Washington, D.C.

Pankhaniya said he now believes the NCUA will grant their charter early next year.

In March, GWU closed the campus and students had to conduct classes online. Even though the campus remains closed this fall, Pankhaniya and other volunteer students and advisors have continued working on the project.

In early April the project had raised $21,000, and had signals from the NCUA that it needed at least $60,000.

By October, Pankhaniya said the initiative had raised $100,000 in capital, and had $600,000 in committed deposits from other credit unions. Having non-member deposits is allowed for low-income-designated credit unions, which the new credit union will be.

The concept is to offer students a focused menu of essentials: Savings, checking and debit cards.

In some ways, Pankhaniya said the pandemic has created an advantage for their concept as consumers, especially young adults, expect their financial institutions to have robust online capabilities.

“I think we’re going to be able to adapt very well,” he said. “We have strong digital capabilities and digital knowledge.”

The team includes Christian Trummer, a founding member from Pennsylvania studying mechanical/aerospace engineering. As chief technology officer he works with software vendors and oversees website development and information technology operations.

Ander Tebbutt, a junior from Iowa studying accounting, is COO.

Bill Kennedy, CFO of SecurityPlus Federal Credit Union of Baltimore and a member of the advisory board, said the initiative has a solid core group of committed students built since Pankhaniya started the project as a freshman.

“It has been a long marathon process for Sahil that certainly has tested his resilience and endurance,” Kennedy said. “But he has persevered.”

Also, Kennedy said Pankhaniya wisely recruited talented professors and credit union movement leaders to be advisors, mentors and future board members.

“Starting a credit union is incredibly challenging — doing it during today’s environment is a monumental endeavor,” he said. “He has assembled the firepower to give them a real fighting chance of success despite the significant challenges of the environment.”

Pankhaniya started the project not long after graduating from high school in Osprey, Fla.

His parents are both of Indian descent and immigrated to the United States — his mother by way of the United Kingdom, where she was born, and his father directly from India to study medicine. His father was both a physician and an entrepreneur, and Pankhaniya said growing up in that creative environment helped him see the opportunity for a different kind of credit union.