What are we doing?

The health and safety of our staff, members and the communities we serve is our priority at First Credit Union. We continue to monitor the evolving COVID-19 situation and have put in place the following with the view of minimising disruption to our members as much as possible.

Business Continuity

At the start of March, we assembled our COVID-19 Business Continuity Planning Committee. This team is made up of Board and Senior Managers, who meet weekly to monitor, review and manage First Credit Union’s response to COVID-19. Every decision made by this team is with the best interests of our staff and members in mind.

It is always important that our members have access to their accounts, and as such we have sought and been provided with Business Continuity plans from our key vendors.

Staff are updated weekly after the COVID-19 Business Continuity Planning Committee have met to ensure staff are aware of what First Credit Union is doing to minimise the impact of COVID-19.

Business as usual

At this stage, we are monitoring the impact of COVID-19 and the effect it will have on First Credit Union’s operations. First Credit Union is adhering to advice/ guidelines provided by the Ministry of Health and our community partners.

• All of First Credit Union’s branches remain operational, and open to service our members.
• We support our community partners who have made the call to cancel large public gatherings (for example Balloons over Waikato) to ensure we protect the vulnerable members of our communities.
• We have upgraded the daily cleaning of our branches and each branch has been fitted with hand sanitizers for member and staff use.
• We continue to offer and encourage our members to register for our 24/7 banking products, which will allow them to manage their accounts without having to come into a branch.

First Credit Union has made the decision to suspend its school banking services for the remainder of Term 1, effective 17 March 2020. Our school banking officers often visit several schools within one day, and given the ongoing concerns with COVID-19 the health and safety of our school banking officers is paramount.

Meetings

All large meetings/ gatherings of staff have been postponed for the time being and will instead be done online where possible.

Continued Service to members

First Credit Union has the IT and infrastructure in place to enable key staff to work remotely should we need to close branches. This will ensure that our members will continue to receive assistance from First Credit Union.

Staff travel

First Credit Union is adhering to the Ministry of Health’s recommendations when it comes to travel.

• Staff are being advised to not travel internationally unless it is an emergency and to adhere to the governments 14 day self-isolation period upon their return to New Zealand.

Self-isolation

• Any First Credit Union staff member who has returned from overseas will be required to self-isolate for 14 days as required by the NZ Government regulations.
• If a staff member is feeling unwell or has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 they are advised to self-isolate and contact Healthline for further assistance.

Scams

As always it is important to remain vigilant of potential scams and fraud. Unfortunately, there will be scammers who will use the COVID-19 pandemic to exploit the current market conditions to scam kiwis.

You can protect yourself and family by remembering that First Credit Union will never ask you for your passwords, Internet Banking login details or Debit Card numbers.

It's important to also be able to recognise the warning signs of potential scams and fraud. Knowing the warning signs could help you spot trouble before it’s too late. You can learn more about them here.

If you are ever in doubt please give us a call, we are here to help!