CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Spring funding disbursements from the Harvard Undergraduate Association (HUA) to student organizations have been delayed for a second consecutive semester, but there is a dispute over the reason between the association and Harvard Federal Credit Union.
HUA co-treasurers Daniel Zhao and Rachel M. Fields said in a mass email to student groups that the Harvard Federal Credit Union’s internal transfer system had “broken,” calling the issue outside their control, The Harvard Crimson reported .
But the $1.23-billion credit union disputed that claim, with Chief Operating Officer Tom Montilli telling the Crimson there was no outage or technical failure, adding that the online transfer feature was not designed to handle the volume and complexity of payments to hundreds of student organizations.
Inherent Limitation
Instead, Montilli described the limitation as inherent to the system and said the co-treasurers had attempted to use a tool that could not support large-scale disbursements, The Harvard Crimson reported .
The HUA had sought to use the online function to bypass a slower manual process in which student government leaders submit disbursement files for processing by the credit union’s deposit servicing team, the report stated. That manual method, established after prior treasurers encountered similar limitations, typically takes several weeks to complete, according to The Harvard Crimson.
Accounts Moved to CU
In preparation for the spring semester, the Crimson said Zhao and Fields moved student organizations onto Harvard Federal Credit Union accounts and eliminated other payment options such as Venmo and Zelle.
The co-treasurers said they contacted the credit union about using the internal transfer system only recently, and were informed it would not meet their needs. Montilli also cited a communication gap during the leadership transition as a contributing factor, noting the credit union had limited interaction with the current treasurers compared with prior years, according to The Harvard Crimson .
HUA officials pushed back, telling the Crimson they had been in frequent contact with the credit union but were often directed to different teams, limiting their direct engagement with the deposit servicing group.
Reverting to Manual Process
With the online option unavailable, the HUA has reverted to the manual process, which Zhao told the Crimson leaves limited visibility into when individual organizations receive funds. He added that he and Fields have spent “dozens of hours” attempting to expedite payments, including visiting a bank branch, according to The Harvard Crimson .
Montilli said the credit union’s deposit servicing team handles disbursements from a back-office environment and that branch staff are not directly involved in processing those requests, The Harvard Crimson reported .
He added that the credit union is testing a new online business banking platform designed for organization-type accounts that could improve the process in the future, according to the report .
