TEMPE, Ariz. — The $1 billion Arizona State Credit Union won plaudits from Arizona State University last week for its "rescue" mission in offering 2.9%, six-month loans to hard-pressed college employees who lost pay following a payroll conversion.
"You could say our presence on all three campuses and our relationship with the university created a natural connection to create a loan solution for employees facing a missed paycheck," explained Paul Stull, senior vice president of Arizona State of Glendale.
More than 50 of the loans have been extended so far since the university announced its conversion plan last month to switch from bi-weekly to weekly. What followed was what administrators called "computer glitches" causing financial hardship and negative press.
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"We do appreciate the credit union's loan program," said a spokeswoman for the university. ASU, the largest college in metro Phoenix, has 15,000 employees.
The negative stories appearing on TV and in newspapers focused on students going without their paycheck to meet daily needs and confusion on the pay cycle.
The ASU Human Resources Department did set up an employee help center and recruited CU employees to help staff it.
The university spokesman said the university did anticipate problems, but the software glitches become unfortunate with staff training of the new systems turning out to be an issue, said the spokeswoman.
"Many of the employees we heard from were concerned about having to miss a planned vacation or a mortgage or rent payment," said the CU's Stull. "The loan was just the answer to solve the missed check"
Arizona State said it will continue to offer the rescue loans through the end of August and stood ready to help ASU "if they fall behind later and need assistance."
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