President/CEO Matt Mamer said the credit union was able to pay the Extraordinary Dividend because of "another successful year." CEFCU's net income was $46.7 million in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, up from $29.9 million in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2020.

The $20 million payment represented about $54 per member and 28 bps of its ROA of 0.65% for the 12 months ending Sept. 30. However, the payment was down from the $30 million it paid in December 2020, which represented about $85 per member and 46 bps of its ROA of 0.46% for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2020.

"Every year is different," Mamer said in a two-minute video, "Defining Better Together: The Extraordinary Dividend."

"We face new challenges every year, so an Extraordinary Dividend is not guaranteed. We've been fortunate that we've been consistent over the past couple of years," Mamer said.

"When we have capital enough to both cover our expenses as the needs we have and foresee in the coming years, then we take a look at that. Our board feels strongly that the excess is our members' money, so we return that back to our members," he said.

The dividend was split evenly based on savings and borrowing. Tim Dunton, the credit union's chief delivery officer, said in the video that the interest members pay on loans and earn from savings is used to calculate the dividend. "It gives us that fair way of returning excess capital to our members."

The other two credit unions with special dividends were:

1. Summit Credit Union of Madison, Wis. ($4.8 billion, 220,198 members), which paid members $2.7 million by Dec. 10 as Cash Boomerang payout. The amount represented about $12 per member and 6 bps of its ROA of 1.68% for the 12 months ending Sept. 30.

2. CoVantage Credit Union of Antigo, Wis. ($2.6 billion in assets, 138,194 members), which paid members $5 million in December as a patronage payment. The amount represented about $36 per member and 21 bps of its ROA of 1.4% for the 12 months ending Sept. 30.

CoVantage Board Chair Susan Gitzlaff said at the board's year-end meetings, directors evaluate how much income is needed in reserves to protect the credit union, and to fund regular dividends and operating expenses.

CoVantage held $2 billion in loans on Sept. 30, up 21.4% from a year earlier. Automotive loans grew 42% to $572.4 million, and first mortgages grew 24.5% to $860.9 million. Shares and deposits grew 18% to $2.3 billion, and members grew 9.9%. Net income rose 77% to $14.8 million for the 12 months ending Sept. 30.

"Because we had such tremendous growth in loans, deposits and new members, we were thrilled to determine we could provide over $5 million — our largest patronage payment ever — to our members," Gitzlaff said.

Last year, CoVantage's special dividend was $4.2 million, which included nearly $4 million from interest refunds.

So far this season, 18 credit unions ($75.5 billion, 4.3 million members) have announced $167.3 million in special dividends. The amount represented about $39 per member and 24 bps of their 12-month ROA of 1.32%, up from 1.02% ROA for the previous 12 months.

Credit unions interested in sharing their special dividend announcements can email them to [email protected].