CHAPEL HILL, N.C.–Saying they are seeking banking alternatives to Wells Fargo on campus, a group of students at the University of North Carolina is exploring the creation of a credit union.
The university’s official banking partner is the San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, but some students say they are unhappy with the monopoly and are seeking alternatives, according to the Daily Tar Heel.
The student group is aiming to provide “convenient and ethical financial service for community members,” the Daily Tar Heel reported.
Lesson from Another University
Mohammad Qureshi, a junior and one of the spokespeople for the project, told the Daily Tar Heels a credit union would essentially provide financial services to the UNC community at much lower interest rates compared to Wells Fargo, in addition to offering financial literacy lessons.
Shiva Rajbhandari, junior and co-founder of the Carolina Credit Union Initiative, told the publication the group came up with the idea of a UNC student credit union in early April of this year after learning that Georgetown University had started its own credit union in 1983.
“And that’s kind of when this idea got started, as far as like, we could add something like that at UNC,” Rajbhandari said.
Now in Phase One
In an email sent to The Daily Tar Heel, the group said it is currently in Phase 1 of the official chartering process with NCUA. In this phase, the group said it is working on building their team, demonstrating the need for a credit union at the university and raising funds.
