U.S. Bank held its grand opening on Driscoll Green from 11 a.m. to noon Sept. 16, followed by a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of the branch inside Driscoll Student Center. With about 40 people in attendance, speakers included DU Chancellor Rebecca Chopp, U.S. Bank Market President Hassan Salem, Regional Manager Daniel Hoke, District Manager Ross Johnson and Branch Manager Selena Spenard.
Chancellor Chopp giving her speech for those who came out to support.
“Our history of U.S. Bank in Colorado dates back to the 1860s, and it just happens to also coincide with the history of the University of Denver,” said Salem, who later confirmed that Mike Davis, the son of U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis, attended DU for both his undergraduate and law degrees. “You are the company you keep, and for us to have this kind of company with the University of Denver is a true honor; it is a relationship that we’ve coveted for many years, and we’re absolutely delighted to have that and to see that come to fruition with our branch here.”
While Spenard believes the construction budget was just under $400,000, she says the installment of a U.S. Bank on campus was intended to be more of a service for students than a money maker for the company.
“As far as our contract with the school, we do pay the school royalties to be here, so having us here is actually helpful to the students in that aspect as well,” she said.
While the bank had its official opening inside Driscoll on June 9, Spenard said they waited to host a grand opening until more people were on campus. As an added incentive for students to attend the ceremony and to show their appreciation for all of the support the bank has received, U.S. Bank took entries over the week and a half prior to the ceremony for a drawing to win a $1000 co-branded DU and U.S. Bank bike, a $50 gift card to the DU bookstore and a $50 gift card to Campus Cycles.
Cake, ice cream and refreshments were also served, and two Broncos cheerleaders were on site signing autographs and taking pictures, one of whom was DU alumna and former marketing major Katie Bhappu.
“U.S. Bank requested that we show up for the opening to sign autographs, take photos and help promote everything,” said Bhappu, who recalled her stay in Johnson-McFarlane Hall her freshman year.
Broncos cheerleaders Kendal Bortles (left) and Katie Bhappu (right) pose with U.S. Bank mascot on Driscoll Green.
While Spenard says anyone can walk in off the street and bank with the DU branch, it’s mainly for students, faculty and staff. According to Spenard, the branch has opened hundreds of accounts over the last few weeks, and the bank’s dedication to helping students establish credit resulted in positive feedback from parents who were dropping their students off for Orientation Week.
“It’s about convenience,” said Chopp. “It’s an absolutely wonderful service if our students don’t have to run off to other branches. It’s going to be much [easier] for them, and they will find services much more accessible.”
Sophomore geography major Lizzy Wallis from St. Louis, Mo. is pleased with the addition of the on-campus U.S. Bank branch.
“For me, it’s super convenient,” said Wallis after depositing two checks during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “I opened my first account with U.S. Bank at the start of freshman year, and I used to have to bike over to the bank over on University [Boulevard], so this is pretty nice. This was my first time going here on campus, but it was really fast and easy and super helpful.”
While she admits she hasn’t looked into it very much, Wallis says she still has mixed feelings about adding the debit card strip feature onto her DU Pioneer card.
“I see the convenience in it, but it worries me,” she said. “I’m not sure if I’m going to do that or not; I’m probably leaning towards not, just because I’m worried about losing my swipe card in general, especially if it had all of that info on it.”
Sophomore Lizzy Wallis in front of U.S. Bank DU branch.
According to Senior Banker Michelle Liotti, the pin number attached to the card—which is entirely separate from the student’s DU ID number—helps prevent any fraudulent activity.
“It’s just the same as a debit card,” said Liotti, reassuring students that if anything were to happen to their card, U.S. Bank would cancel the card. “U.S. Bank covers its customers 100 percent, so, if any fraud does happen on the account, we take care of that. We reimburse that money so they don’t lose that money.”
In addition to the Pioneer debit card, Spenard also commented on the importance of establishing credit with one of U.S. bank’s credit cards.
“In the future when [students] do get a job and when they do want to move off campus and get an apartment, they want to get a vehicle, they want to do anything like that, if they don’t have a credit profile they will not be able to do any of that, and so people run into a roadblock three years down the road because they never established credit,” she said.
Spenard said that the bank is offering a very low limit credit card just for students who have no credit established.
“The cards start out at a $300 limit, so they can’t get themselves in some crazy amount of debt,” she said. “So, we’re not super concerned about their income level; we just put them in as a student, and we’ll go ahead and approve them anyways.”
U.S. Bank is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday inside Driscoll, and is directly adjacent to the DU bookstore.
