RALEIGH, N.C.–Coastal Credit Union showed some love for members on Valentine’s Day by paying out more than $2.5 million in special dividends to qualified members as part of its Loyalty Bonus program.
The payout was shared among 51,500 members, making it Coastal’s largest bonus dividend in terms of both dollars and number of recipients, the credit union said.
The total Loyalty Bonus payout was based on Coastal’s overall performance in 2017. Individual shares of the payout were then calculated based on each member’s aggregate relationship (year-end loan balances and average deposits) with Coastal, as well as their length of membership as of Dec. 31, 2017. Individual members received anywhere from $5 up to $300.
Over the past seven years, Coastal CU said it has paid out $14.2 million in special dividends.
“As a member-owned cooperative, we’re in a unique position to share our success with our membership,” said Chuck Purvis, Coastal’s president and CEO. “We don’t have to answer to Wall Street investors. So, after all expenses are paid and our reserve requirements are met, we can look at using our earnings to best benefit our members. One big way that we do that is by returning some of it directly to the people who helped us earn it.’”
Coastal estimates that the total Member Giveback for 2017 was nearly $23.5 million.
“Of course, that only includes what we’re able to count,” added Purvis. “Each year, we see the growing list of fees that some of our competitors charge, that we simply don’t. I’m sure if we could find an easy way to count the times members avoided those fees by choosing Coastal over a bank, it would add a few more million to the total.”