VSECU Awarded Community
Credit Union of the Year
The National Credit Union Association
recently named four credit unions as recipients of the prestigious Community Credit
Union of the Year award. VSECU, a credit
union for everybody in Vermont, was one
of the four recognized award recipients
from 2,200 credit unions serving communities nationwide.
Demonstrating a positive community impact was an important criterion to be selected as an award recipient. As part of our
submission for award consideration, our
proud history of offering IOLTA accounts
and our place on the VBF Honor Roll as a
Gold Level Leadership Institution, was noted as a value-added contribution to positively supporting Vermont communities.
VSECU submitted the following illustration of how our support of the Vermont Bar
Foundation’s IOLTA program benefits Ver-
www.vtbar.org
monters:
Providing Civil Legal Aid
to Low-Income Vermonters
VSECU helps support civil legal aid to
low-income Vermonters by supporting the
Vermont Bar Foundation as a participant in
Vermont’s IOLTA (Interest on Lawyer’s Trust
Accounts) program. VSECU pays a premium on IOLTA deposit accounts and earned
interest is used to help pay for legal services that low-income individuals cannot afford to pay themselves.
Practicing Vermont attorneys are required to open an IOLTA account with a local financial institution. The account is specially designated by a financial institution
as an interest bearing account where client
funds are held for future use such as, the
THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • WINTER 2015
purchase of a home, a settlement payout,
to pay a judgment, hold as escrow or other reasons.
The purpose of paying the high yield
rate on these deposits is to help support
access to justice in Vermont by obtaining
and distributing funds to programs that
provide legal services to disadvantaged
Vermonters or that educate the general
public about the courts and legal matters.
VSECU currently pays a premium yield
of 2.02% on sixty IOLTA accounts held at
VSECU. In 2013 VSECU paid over $80,000
in interest on IOLTA accounts to help fund
legal services to low-income Vermonters
and other at-risk populations. We look forward to carrying on this tradition with nearly $5 million currently on deposit in these
accounts.
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