DFCU Financial to Pay $37 Million in Special Dividends

Members of DFCU Financial Credit Union of Dearborn, Mich., will receive $36 million in special dividends Jan. 4.

The board vote marked its sixteenth consecutive Cash Back award.

DFCU Financial ($6.3 billion in assets, 231,958 members as of Sept. 30) will pay a Cash Back award that represents about $155 per member and an annualized 0.61% of its $58.6 million in net income for the 12 months ending June 30, or ROA of 0.99%.

Part of its Cash Back awards has included interest refunds. In the 12 months ending June 30, it paid $9.4 million in interest refunds, about the same as in the previous 12 months.

DFCU Financial began in 1950 as Ford Engineering Employees Federal Credit Union. It now has 27 branches in metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Lansing.

Cash Back eligibility is determined by a member’s age as of Dec. 31 of the prior year:

• Ages 26 and over must have an average yearly loan and/or deposit balance of $5,000.
• Ages 18-25 must have an average yearly loan and/or deposit balance of $1,000.
• Ages 0-17 must have an average yearly loan and/or deposit balance of $100.

DFCU’s website said annual Cash Back payments are limited to an aggregate of $25,000 for each tax-reported owner. Its website calculator showed a member with an average balances over the past year of $2,000 in savings and $4,000 in checking would receive $50 Cash Back. If they had a car loan with a $10,000 average balance it would be $80. If they also had a $200,000 mortgage, it would be $1,080.

“While the DFCU Financial Board of Directors intends to pay Cash Back every year, and has done so since 2007, Cash Back is not guaranteed and will depend on our financial performance and other factors,” DFCU Financial’s website said.

So far this season, four credit unions ($12.1 billion, 609,476 members) have announced $45.1 million in special dividends. The amount represented about $74 per member and 40 bps of their 12-month ROA of 1.19%.