“Besides tourism, we have a strong Navy and Pentagon membership base,” Tanimoto said. “There are other industries besides tourism in Hawaii, so we are really starting to see the economy turning around for the better.”

According to the latest U.S. Census report, Hawaii had the nation's largest percentage drop in median income and biggest percentage spike in poverty rate during the last two years of the recession. The cost of living in Hawaii is among the highest in the United States. The prices of basics–housing, food, utilities–are considerably higher than in the mainland, and research shows that 85% of credit union members in Hawaii are low-income, earning less than 80% of the state's median family income.

Tourist numbers dropped dramatically during the recession, and the state's tourism industry suffered a second blow when the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami stifled the flow of big-spending Japanese vacationers to the islands. However, in 2012, visitors from all over the world are coming back to the sandy beaches, tropical weather and Aloha spirit.

Andrew Rosen, president/CEO of the $1.1 billion Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, said the Hawaiian economy tends to lag behind the mainland economy by about six to 12 months.

Despite the recession, the nearly 75-year-old credit union, located in Honolulu, has experienced a 50% jump in membership since 2001, Rosen said. It also is one of the few credit unions in the country to provide members with bonus dividends and interest rebates, returning more than $37 million in earnings since 1996.

HSFCU counts 74,339 members and a ROA of 0.82%, lower than its peer average of 0.92%. However, delinquent loan numbers as of June are an impressive 0.27%, compared with a 1.12% peer average.

“We owe our strong ROAA to focusing on the basics, lending to our members and helping them save,” Rosen said. “The difference between Hawaii State Federal Credit Union and our peers is really due to the lag in our recovery and lower loan demand.”

Rosen said his employees work very closely with members to meet their credit needs and ensure they can manage their debt responsibly.

“Our negative loan growth is a reflection of two factors,” he said. “The first is the slow recovery of the economy, and the second is our active management of long-term interest rate risk. We have stopped putting long-term, fixed real estate loans on our books.”

“As the economy improves we're beginning to see greater demand for loans,” he said. “We have some really revolutionary products in the planning stage to better meet members long-term needs in a rapidly changing financial landscape. Overall we have a great member base and we are striving for new ways to serve them in this rapidly changing economy.”

Hawaii has a long relationship with credit unions that reads as most state histories do. In 1936, Archie C. Jackson, founder of Hawaii's first credit union, Big Island Teachers› FCU, hand delivered loan or withdrawal checks, making the long drive from his office in Hilo to Kau, Kohala and Kona.

Jackson›s checks weren›t big. In 1936, he reported that his credit union had 65 members, with $2,150 on deposit and 12 loans totaling $1,260. However, the country was in the middle of the Great Depression, when money was hard to come by and harder to keep.

The $1.3 billion Hawaii USA Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Honolulu, opened its doors on November 6, 1936 as Oahu Teachers No. 3 Federal Credit Union. In 2000, the credit union changed its name to Hawaii USA.

Like the rest of the country, educators are having a tough time in Hawaii, but President/CEO Karl Yoneshige said his membership mix of government employees, students and their families are slowly turning the tide on the recession.

“As for the educators who are our members, they have seen a lot of changes occur in their benefits and it's been pretty tough on them,” Yoneshige said. “Because of this a lot of them have gone delinquent on their loans and we've had a number of write-offs. Overall things are improving but it's slow in coming.”

Charge-offs peaked at 0.84% as of Dec. 31, 2011, but as of June 30 the number had fallen to 0.44%, well below the peer average of 0.74%. Like HSFCU, Hawaii USA's 0.67% ROA lags behind the 0.92% ROA reported by their $1 billion asset peers. A low loan-to-share ratio–just 40% as of June 30 compared to the peer average nearly 70%–will continue to make revenue a challenge.

“Our lending is slowly improving and with all the credit unions and banks in Hawaii there is a lot of competition, so we are looking at some positive numbers headed our way,” Yoneshige said. “The economy really isn't that much different here in Hawaii than it is on the mainland except we might have more sunshine, and it's still free.”