Tyndall Federal Credit Union has provided more than $2.7 million to members who were affected by Hurricane Michael, which devastated the Florida Panhandle in early October.
The $1.28 billion-asset credit union, which is based in Panama City, Fla., said on Thursday the $2.7 million outlay came in the form of $50 deposited into the savings accounts of each active member who was impacted by the hurricane. According to Tyndall’s website, in order to be eligible for the payment, recipients had to be active members in good standing with the credit union and living in a Federal Emergency Management Agency-declared disaster area as of October 31, 2018.
The payments were made on the day after Thanksgiving.
“With all the devastation around us, we knew that even $50 could go a long way for those who have lost so much,” Tyndall President and CEO Jim Warren said in the release.
While many credit unions offer dividend returns to members at this time of year, Tyndall FCU hasn’t offered a cash rebate for more than a decade, explained Rebecca Bonner, AVP of marketing.
“Our model is to provide value for members throughout the year in the form of lower loan rates, lower fees, and better dividend rates, so that we don’t have additional income at the end of the year,” she added
Since the storm, Tyndall FCU noted, it has offered several other relief options for its members, including waived fees, low-rate personal loans, and up to 90-day deferrals on consumer loan and mortgage payments.
Tyndall further said that in the wake of the storm it has donated $5,000 in restaurant meals, 10,000 gallons of free gas, $15,000 in groceries, and 800 Thanksgiving turkeys to the local community.
Tyndall posted net income of about $9.38 million through the first nine months of 2018, a 54 percent increase from the same period in the prior year.
