Peak-Performing Credit Unions During 1st Quarter, 2003

On this page are featured credit unions that have been identified, according to one set of criteria, of delivering superior value to their members.

Determining how a credit union stands relative to its peers is a complex issue. Callahan & Associates, Washington, D.C., has attempted to do just that, however, with what it calls its Return to the Member ranking system.

According to Callahan's, Return to the Member is designed to help a credit union analyze its member service levels based on the information reported in 5300 Call Reports.

Callahan's describes it as an "economic profile based on the value of your credit union's products and services.

"This includes a computation of member service levels, stressing the importance of striving for full member usage of a credit union's products."

The core components of Return to the Member are three functions: lending, savings, and member usage.

The first component is called Return to the Savers, which measures how well a credit union is doing in providing deposit services back to members.

The second component is called Return to the Borrowers, which takes into consideration that credit unions were created to provide credit to members at a reasonable cost.

And the final component is member service usage, which measures how efficiently a credit union provides and promotes services to its members.

Callahan & Associates noted that the leaders in the latter category are credit unions with a high number of core account relationships with their members.

A value between one and 100 is assigned to each credit union depending on the performance in the three core areas of Return of the Member.

For the past three years The Credit Union Journal has featured the high-performers in the Return to the Member rankings as part of its Success Stories features, which examine why and how the credit union's management has been able to drive the credit union's success. The articles are part of an editorial focus by The Journal on Best Practices, or analysis of pragmatic ideas and practices that other credit unions can emulate.

For readers interested in more information from Callahan & Associates, contact the firm at (800) 446-7453.

Readers Can Offer Their Thoughts To The Credit Union Journal by Writing P.O. Box 4387, W. Palm Beach, FL 33402, by calling (888) 832-2929, or by e-mailing diekmann flinet.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

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