ATM Zone in Oklahoma Sold to CUSC Unit

OKLAHOMA CITY - The ATM Zone, an Oklahoma City network, started four years ago by area credit unions to handle surcharge-free transactions, has been sold to a CUSO linked to Atlanta-based Credit Union Services Corp. "Our board felt we had already achieved success with the ATM Zone and continuing on would have required hiring staff and doing more maintenance," explained Steve Rasmussen, president of FAA Employees CU of Oklahoma City and one of the CU managing partners of the ATM Zone. The decision was made this fall, he said, to sell the operations to the CUSC unit which is managed by the Oklahoma Credit Union League. Terms were not disclosed. A spokesman for CUSC said the acquisition of ATM Zone, allows the service to be expanded in 2006 to CUs across the state and to offer favorable pricing on switch fees. Though a surcharge-free pact had been operating informally among five Oklahoma City CUs, the ATM Zone was formally launched two years ago in a partnership "when retaining surcharge-free ATMS was very important" from a marketing standpoint, said Rasmussen. The sale, he said, gives CUs across Oklahoma a chance to take advantage of the service, he said. Until the new pact was inked with the league as manager of the ATM Zone, the network has been handling 185,000 monthly ATM transactions at 118 ATMs in metropolitan Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The five managing partners of ATM Zone include: Tinker FCU, Weokie CU, FAA Employees, Oklahoma Employees and Communication CU. Apart from the five partners, a spokesman for ATM Zone noted there are currently 13 participating credit unions in the ATM Zone network. The network retains machines outside of Oklahoma and there are plans to sign up CUs from outside the state. -jrubenscut@aol.com