Credit Unions in the News

March 15, 2024 — The Richland Federal Credit Union (FCU) board of directors has declared a special dividend of $300,000 to be distributed in mid-March to its share account holders equaling a 0.50% interest payment on 2023 average share account (savings) balances. While direct payments to members are relatively rare in the financial industry, this is the second time in the last five years that RFCU, a financial cooperative, has distributed a dividend to its member-owners. The previous distribution of $250,000 was made for fiscal year 2018.

In announcing the distribution, Richland FCU Board Chair Beth Redlin noted, “It is a pleasure to once again be able to say ‘Thank You’ to our members for entrusting their money with us. It is gratifying to reward our members for investing in our cooperative and its future, especially given the modest returns depositors at banks and financial cooperatives have received on their money over the past several years. This is a unique feature of financial cooperatives where earnings go to benefit our member-owners, when conditions allow, through dividends paid directly to our member-owners, not to outside investors.”

“Special circumstances create these opportunities in the credit union world and that is what we have here at RFCU again in 2023,” Richland FCU CEO Korey Hagan noted. “We have very loyal members that throughout the year trust in our financial management and decision-making and believe in our continual commitment to bringing value to our members today and those in the future.”