The $212.2 million Guardian Credit Union of Montgomery, Ala., and the $123 million Western Division Federal Credit Union of Williamsville, N.Y., have announced respective bonus dividend payouts of $750,000 and $800,000.
Guardian CU said this week that 23,000 members received a portion of its $750,000 payout, a combination of bonus dividends and interest rebates, with one member alone receiving $3,100.
The payout is intended to not only help improve the financial well being of members, but to significantly impact local businesses during the holiday shopping season, Guardian CU said.
Western Division FCU paid an $800,000 patronage dividend to its membership on Wednesday.
Members who paid interest or received dividends in a sufficient amount to warrant a patronage dividend received approximately 12% of the interest paid on their loans and 60% of the dividends earned on their savings in 2011, Western Division FCU said.
“We like to think of our patronage dividend as our own economic stimulus package because a large portion of the over $5 million we've distributed since 2003 has been put back into the local economy while also helping our members,” said Craig Mellenthien, the New York credit union's president/CEO.
Jeffrey Wagner, chairman for Western Division FCU, added, “At Western Division we believe everyone deserves to keep more of their hard-earned money, get great service from their financial institution and benefit financially from being part of a cooperative. It allows members to see the difference between us rewarding their success while other financial institutions reward stockholders.”
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
