Hoya Staff Writer Friday, September 8, 2006 Lindsay Anderson/The Hoya Members of the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union now have access to over 32,000 Allpoint ATMs nationwide.

Months after the Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union reached an agreement providing customers with free access to ATMs across the nation, some account holders are still unaware of the expanded services. “I had no idea,” Chris Connolly (MSB ’09), who opened an account with the Credit Union more than a year ago, said. In April, the Credit Union reached a deal with Allpoint ATM Network that allows members to withdraw money from over 32,000 ATMs nationwide without paying a service charge. Still, some, including Pete Sorrentino (COL ’08), said that they access their accounts only from the two on-campus ATMs operated by the Credit Union. Gregory Pasqua (MSB ’07), the chief executive officer of the Credit Union, said that since the inception of the deal, use of the new ATMs by GUASFCU account holders has increased by an average of 18 percent per month. Pasqua said that he does not know how many Credit Union account holders have taken advantage of the new ATMs. “Obviously it takes time for members to learn about the network and get used to using it, so we feel that it’s a pretty strong growth rate,” Pasqua said. Pasqua said that another benefit of the deal is that it allows alumni across the country to continue using their accounts regularly after graduation. He said that alumni are taking advantage of the opportunity. “Alumni outside of the Washington, D.C., area have been especially pleased with the increase in available ATMs,” Pasqua said. He added that fewer graduating seniors closed out their accounts at the end of the spring semester than had in previous semesters. Still, even some of the Credit Union’s newest members remain unaware of the deal, which GUASFCU leaders hailed as a landmark expansion of services. Pasqua said that over 300 new members opened accounts during New Student Orientation, up from about 220 during NSO last year, and between 10 and 20 accounts are still being opened on a daily basis. But Kelly Differding (COL ’10), who recently opened an account, said she was not aware of the expanded service. “I haven’t had my account for very long, but no, I didn’t know about those other ATMs,” she said.