Conference 7.286::dcu

Just out of curiosity, why did the 3 vote against the bonus distribution?  I
assume it was disagreement with the way it was distributed?

Burns
Z

> b.  Bonus Dividend Information
> 
> During extensive discussion, a unanimous consensus was reached to approve a
> bonus dividend, provided the amount is appropriate.
> 
>  *  It was moved by Mr. Gransewicz and seconded by Mr. Garrod to approve a
> bonus dividend, to be paid half to depositors and half to borrowers, in the
> total amount of $1,000,000 (four in favor, three opposed:  Mr. Hom, Mr.
> McEachin, and Mr. Eddleston).  Motion carried.

My vote against the motion was based on the amount.  The amounts
discussed ranged from $500K to over $1M.  I was more comfortable
with $500K as the bonus dividend. 

A $500K bonus dividend would have given DCU more flexibility in 
serving its members  or weathering any potential economic storms
on the horizon.  

Please note that the DCU's business plan does NOT have a bonus dividend
built into it.  By that I mean some credit unions charge a higher
interest rate on loans and pay less on savings and then pay out any "excess
profits" as a bonus dividend.  In the DCU's case, the results for 1996
were so outstanding that it was only fair to some the success with its
members.

    
    Gim
    

    I'm surprised by the narrow margin on this vote.
    
    Gim, how are we doing on the capital ratio?
    
    - Ganesh.

    Further to my .3, I'm not just looking for a number
    here - the minutes do state that the capital ratio 
    is 7.87%, down slightly from the previous report. 
    I guess I'm looking for a trend in this number 
    over the last few quarters, and also the trend 
    in our loan deliquency rate.
    
    - Ganesh.

Re: .3 and .4

Even with the bonus dividend payout, the capital ratio remains above 7%.

The deliqueency rate is also within plan with no apparent upward trend.
There's nothing to be concerned at this time.  The credit union is on
very sound financial footing.

Though the vote on this issue was 4-3, I don't view this vote as
win-lose type of vote but more of a vote on degree of flexibility for
1997 and financial comfort level.


Gim

RE: Note 1033.4 by SUBSYS::SUNDARESAN

.    Further to my .3, I'm not just looking for a number
.    here - the minutes do state that the capital ratio 
.    is 7.87%, down slightly from the previous report. 
.    I guess I'm looking for a trend in this number 
.    over the last few quarters, and also the trend 
.    in our loan deliquency rate.

The capitol ratio looks fine, at this time.  DCU is acting like a credit
union (IMHO) in place of the 'bank' we used to act like.  I fully
support the payback to the members.

The BOD, Carlos, and employees are doing a WONDEFUL job.

	- mark

	Ummmm, when ? is this bonus going to show up on our statements ?

	Thanks,

	Chuck

It was supposed to be credited on January 31, therefore you should see it
on your Feb. statement.

				Steve

    If you logged into PC branch the night of Jan 31st,
    the bonus showed up in your primary savings account.
    
    Bill
    

    
    Why only the primary savings account, why wasn't MM account given
    a bonus ???  
    
    

    All accounts (I believe) are considered in the bonus.  The total is
    deposited there.  I assume this as part of my bonus is paid on interest
    paid to DCU and my savings account interest last year was significantly
    less (read on the order of 2-3% of) the bonus I received.   I have
    three savings, one sharedraft and VISA.  The deposit was made to the
    savings.
    
    Bill
     

    The dividend bonus takes into account both the interest paid to the DCU
    on loans and the interest received on deposits.
    
    The one difference was that last year, everyone received at least a
    minimum amount (it was ~ $3-$5). This was to encourage members to use
    the DCU.  This year, the bonus was based completely on usage with no
    mininum. If the calculations showed that you get $.03, you received
    that amount.  The end result is that members who used the DCU more
    received more.
    
    Gim
    
    

>   that amount.  The end result is that members who used the DCU more
>    received more.

I disagree that interest paid (in either direction) equates to usage.  I use a
DCU as my primary financial institution with pay direct deposited, writing all
my checks on DCU etc.  However, I don't leave thousands and thousands hanging
around in those accounts.

Also, my mortgage was from DCU.  Due to no fault of my own, DCU sold it, so it
no longer counts.

In the end, I got a bonus of something like $5.  Whoo hoo.  Am I motivated.

Burns

I second the comment that interest payments (either way) do not necessarily reflect actual usage. 
It certainly doesn't in my case, and the meager dollars I receved are meaningless.

re: .13

> In the end, I got a bonus of something like $5.  Whoo hoo.  Am I motivated.

You did better than me.  I also use DCU as my primary financial institution
and I got a mere $0.20.

-Hal

Re: .13


> Also, my mortgage was from DCU.  Due to no fault of my own, DCU sold it,
> so it no longer counts.

The old DCU policy was to sell the mortgages lock stock and barrel (i.e.
including servicing).  As a result, members like yourself borrowed from
the DCU and ended up paying to XYZ company.

That is no longer the case.  If a mortgage is sold, DCU retains the
servicing. You make the check to DCU, if you have problems you call
the DCU.  In fact, it's hard to tell if the mortgage is sold or not.

Gim

    Give them a rest.  I got back quit a bit.
    Usage to me means how much money in my accounts    == money they use,
    and money I've borrowed                            == money they earn
    
    if you're think usage equates to number of checks written, that's
    really a DCU expense.
    And, if they give out $1 mil, there's 60K members, that equates
    to $16 a head.  I like the idea of the interest/interest formula.
    
    It like the Metpay rebate that everyone also grips about.
    
    =========
    That said, I'd rather have had them spend the million to bring us
    home banking.  Something they promised us a while ago, but never
    delivered.

>    if you're think usage equates to number of checks written, that's
>    really a DCU expense.
>    And, if they give out $1 mil, there's 60K members, that equates
>    to $16 a head.  I like the idea of the interest/interest formula.

Of course.  It depends on exactly what the BOD/staff is trying to motivate by
giving back stuff.  My thought was that a commercial bank would try to motivate
things that benefit the bank.  The DCU would try to motivate what they claim is
their mission statement:  Making the DCU your primary financial institute.

>    That said, I'd rather have had them spend the million to bring us
>    home banking.  Something they promised us a while ago, but never
>    delivered.

Yes, exactly.  I'm really more griping about this than about the small return
for my particular usage pattern.  I did not expect *any* return, so it's not
real important that I got very little.  However, I think that if most people
are going to get less than $20 (or even less than $50), I would rather see the
benefit pooled for some globally useful purpose like real home banking.

Burns

    we agree
    
    
    		H  E  L  L   O     BOD  ARE YOU OUT THERE?
    
    		HOW ABOUT REAL HOME BANKING?  WORTH A $1,000,00 TO GET.
    
    
    		IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE???
    
    
    Dear BOD, isn't it about time we got rid of the worthless vendor that
    is now doing the PC BRANCH software, and get it done right?
    Intuit rings a bell with me.  The current BOD has done so many good
    things, but seems to fall flat on their back on this issue.  Why?
    
    ed

    
    Mr. Badger, I find myslf in the somewhat surprising situation of
    agreeing wholeheartedly with your previous couple of replies in this
    string.
    

Why bother with it at all?  90% of the places my checks go to would have to 
be mailed anyway.  Until I can make a transaction from my choice of 
accounting packages and have the electronic exchange be completely 
invisible to me, PC banking isn't worthwhile.  Besides my modem is online 
to my ISP 24x7, do any of these PC banking packages have Internet access?  

Sorry Mr. Badger but yours is just one opinion.

Jilly

    
    There are many opinions. I find the PC Banking to be more than
    adequate. I don't write checks anymore, don't buy stamps, and get
    	things paid pretty easy. 

    > I find the PC Banking to be more than adequate. I don't write checks
    > anymore, don't buy stamps, and get things paid pretty easy.
    
    Wow... you must be blessed, or I must be cursed.
    
    For me, PC Branch fails about 1/3 of the time that I use it.
    
    "Failures" can mean:
    
    1) No answer (phone just keeps ringing)
    2) Session hangs
    3) Transactions that don't happen ("service unavailable", etc.)
    4) BillPayer bills that don't go thru, or don't go thru in time
    5) BillPayer bills that go thru after reporting to me that they didn't
    6) BillPayer bills that go thru after reporting to me that they did
    7) Timing issues with balance updates
    8) Program crashes
    9) Windows crashes
    10) More...
    
    I'm starting to keep a log so I can document just how pathetic my
    experience with this thing has been.
    
    But for the record, I agree with Ed.   I am totally convinced that PC
    Branch is a "failure" and that DCU should just cut its losses and go
    with something else.
    
    If DCU  doesn't, *I* will.
    
    	db

    
    re: -.1
    
    I think you're cursed. Are you using Windows 95 or Windows 3.x?
    
    If I had the kind of problems you do, I'd be screaming also. I have not
    experienced any of the kind of failures you have. I'm in PC Bank once a
    day checking balances, getting histories, paying bills. 

    I don't ever remember the bod discussing pc branch.  Am I wrong?
    Can someone point me to the discussion.
    Or is the bod leaving this entirely up to dcu managment to give us this
    service/or lack thereof.
    ed
    

The board does care about servicing its members. I for one have
been asking question re: PC Branch and its performance.  I haven't
come to any conclusions yet.
 
Keep in mind that only two board members respond in this conference.  
Members with strong feelings on any matter regarding the credit
union  should contact DCU or the CEO with their feedback. 

Gim

    Gim,  thanks for the responce,
    
    I have written extensively about the shortcomings of PC Branch, and the
    desire for true on-line banking.  Unless I'm mistaken, the minutes fail
    to show any interest in ANY of the board members in addressing this
    issue.
    
    Now I don't want to generate the standard statement each month like
    what happen with bad debit collection after I complained, but I'd like
    to see some evidence that the board is awear of the issues and is
    committed to doing something. My opinion, and I'll speak only for
    myself, is that pc branch fails short of on-line banking.  We've been
    with this software for over a year with no improvments.
    
    I know this vender is really cheap to buy from.  The price we paid for
    this software is really cheap.  But sometimes you get what you pay for.
    I'd have rather seen the 1 million spent on improving this area.
    
    And, if data is getting to the bod about pc branch, and I've seen some
    number trooted once,  how do they count the number of times pc branch
    does not answer when called?
    ed
    

    Re .13 (Burns)
    
    There does seem to be a "fairness" issue here. After all,
    members who take out a DCU mortgage pay lots more interest
    than others, sometimes for decades. There ought to be a way 
    to ensure that such people get a bigger chunk of the 
    bonus money. 
    
    - Ganesh.
              

        Re .28  (Being a mortgage holder)

    Actually, the special case of mortgage, I think they have been
    more than fair.  Especially if you consider that the government
    (you and I with our taxes) subsidize the mortgage in the percentage of
    your level.

    Re .23 & .24
    
    Well a 1 out of 3 failure rate is certainly unacceptable,
    if it can be documented.
    
    My own recent experience has been about a 5-10% "problem" rate.
    The typical problem is involuntary disconnect during a history
    download or transfer. I have noticed this happens most often 
    during peak usage hours, like weekdays 6 - 10 pm.
    
    - Ganesh. 
             

    Re .29
    
    I don't have a vested interest in this, being a renter myself.
    That the Government heavily subsidizes home mortgages in the US 
    doesn't seem relevant here (personally I don't approve of that policy ;-).
    
    The point is, DCU gets these home-buyers to borrow huge chunks of
    money (several times the size of your typical car loan) at
    a profitable spread to the savings rates. So they ought to get
    due consideration at bonus distribution time.
    
    - Ganesh. 

Didn't Gim say that mortgage holders *Did* get counted?  I think what probably
did not get counted were mortgage holders whose mortgages were sold several
years ago.  In a way not fair (and I lost out on it), but it would have been
awfully hard to keep track of if DCU were not even servicing the loan.

Burns

    RE -.1
    I had a first mtg and a 2nd mtg with DCU. The first mtg was held by DCU
    until I refinanced with them. Would this be a double hit?
    
    And as to PC branch or bank-at-home, please do not count me in the
    vocal minority who want the $1M spent on this. I do not intend to use
    bank at home for any bank, and I am grateful for the $15 or so I got. I
    wonder if the few here who speak are truly representative of the
    majority of DCU members.

re .33 IMHO Probably not and it would be a waste of money to find out.

>    I don't have a vested interest in this, being a renter myself.
>    That the Government heavily subsidizes home mortgages in the US 
>    doesn't seem relevant here (personally I don't approve of that policy ;-).

Actually, renters should see some of the break, albeit maybe indirectly,
since the costs of the home you are renting would be higher if the tax breaks
weren't there.

>    I think you're cursed. Are you using Windows 95 or Windows 3.x?
    
    I'm running Windows 95.
    
    I know that experience has varied: some folks have had no problems, but
    there's no shortage of folks extremely dissatisfied, dissappointed,
    frustrated or "all of the above" with PC Branch. 
    
    	db

    
    Personally, I'd like to see an actual survey taken of all PC Branch
    users. I would be extremely annoyed if they end this feature, as it
    has simplified my bill paying significantly. I pay bills for my Mom and
    this make it easy to that. It's not perfect, but I'm satisfied.

    No one wants to see the "feature" "ended".  In fact, I think in the
    next couple of years, any bank that doesn't provide this feature is
    likely to lose a lot (too much) business.
    
    What we want is to see it provided in a better, more reliable manner.
    
    	db

    What we really need is a "true Win95 application" which will use Win95
    specific services related to modem rather than rolling its own.  I
    routinely use three different network providers but can never connect
    to PCbranch.  I gave up.
    
    - Vikas

I suspect it has nothing to do with the PC software, but rather with the type of
modems used at the server end and perhaps some configuration problem there.

				Steve