MECU of Baltimore Puts $1.5 Million Back in Members’ Accounts

BALTIMORE — MECU of Baltimore has put $1.5 million back into members accounts in the form of loan interest rebates and dividend returns.

Each year the credit union gives two cash bonuses to members — one at the end of June and one in December — and has done so since 1981. Members get back a portion of the interest paid on loans and lines of credit during the past six months, and all deposit accounts — including savings and CDs — see extra interest paid on top of the credit unions usual rates.

The credit union’s second quarter call report has not yet been made public, but the $1.5 million return is less than half of what MECU earned during the first quarter of 2015, when it saw a net income of $3.25 million. It earned nearly $4.2 million in 2014. The CU returned $3.5 million to members last year.

MECU of Baltimore is one of many credit unions to offer dividends, but as Credit Union Journal has reported in the past, there is a deep divide in the CU movement about whether those returns are a real benefit to members.