Three Credit Unions to Pay Members $31 Million

Three credit unions have announced plans to pay their 647,654 members $31.2 million in special dividends.

The discretionary rebates from the three credit unions represent about $48 per member and 37 basis points of their returns of 1.28% on their $8.4 billion in average assets for the 12 months ending Sept. 30. They are:

• Sandia Laboratory Federal Credit Union, Albuquerque, N.M. ($2.6 billion, 107,453 members) paid members $20 million on Nov. 1 as a special dividend. The amount represents about $186 per member and 78 bps of its 12-month ROA of 0.9%.
• Wright-Patt Credit Union, Dayton, Ohio ($4.9 billion in assets, 395,195 members) announced in early December that it will pay members $10.2 million on Jan. 3 as a Special Patronage Dividend. The amount represents about $26 per member and 22 bps of its 12-month ROA of 1.64%.
• Scott Credit Union, Edwardsville, Ill. ($1.2 billion, 145,006 members) paid members $1 million in November as a bonus dividend and loan interest rebate. The amount represents about $7 per member and 8 bps of its 12-month ROA of 0.76%.

Sandia Laboratory FCU’s website provides a frank, business-savvy explanation under a frequently-asked-questions section for why it pays a special dividend, and “not just increase the percentage paid on deposit accounts on an ongoing basis.”

“SLFCU already pays a very competitive, above-market average rate on deposit accounts,” it says. “Increasing the rate paid on deposits on a daily basis could attract significantly more in deposits than we can put to use in the form of loans.

“Because we’ve had several strong years financially and reserves have been built up, we’re able to take some of those reserves and pay them back to our loyal members.”

Wright-Patt said its special dividend will be its largest ever, and follows a special dividend of $8.6 million, or about $23 per member, paid 11 months ago. It is based largely on the number of credit union services members use, rather than amounts.

Payments include: $100 for a business loan relationship; $45 for each first mortgage; $10 for debit cards with greater than 19 transactions per month; and $5 for each debit card with five to 19 transactions per month, e-statement subscription, active mobile usage, active online usage and financial planning relationship.

So far this season, nine credit unions ($34.4 billion, 2.5 million members) have announced $113.8 million in special dividends. The amount represents about $46 per member and 34 bps of their 12-month ROA of 1.00%.