Season of thankfulness | A letter from our president & CEO

As we embark on a season of thankfulness, I wanted to take a moment to express my sincere gratitude for the resiliency of OCCU’s members, employees and the communities we serve. The past 18 months have brought challenges we never could have imagined and have made impacts on our health, well-being and routines in unimaginable ways. But together we have navigated the paths put in front of us, and we are finding our way to a new sense of normalcy.

At OCCU, we have used this time to reflect on the ways in which we can continue to enhance your experiences with us.

As a not-for-profit financial cooperative, we invest any income we earn back into the membership in the form of better loan and deposit rates, enhanced digital services, new branch and ATM locations, additional staff and community giving.

I’ve shared before my passion for eliminating account fees and I’m pleased to report that we have done more work in this area in 2021, reducing or eliminating more than 60% of fees that you are often charged at financial institutions. We introduced a robust program to waive overdraft and late fees in a variety of circumstances and have continued our efforts to reduce the fees that remain in place. Most notably, we reduced extended overdraft to just $9. The changes we've made in 2021 alone will save our members more than $1.8 million over the course of the year. These changes will keep more money in your pocket and we’re proud of that.

Our team continues to lean into our vision to enrich lives by taking the time to listen to your needs and offering options to support you. Sometimes this means taking the opportunity to look deeper than what a credit score, income or debt might tell us and learn from you on a personal level to explore ways we might be able to help wherever you are on your financial journey.

This year I’ve heard countless stories of how we’ve helped members with small, nontraditional loans to purchase new eyeglasses, so they are able to drive safely, obtain needed supplies for a job or pay for surgery for a beloved pet. These stories illustrate our vision to enrich lives, and they are the ones that mean the most to me – people really helping people. That’s the credit union difference.

I’d like to say thank you for the trust you have placed in OCCU and for your continued membership.
 

With gratitude,

Ron Neumann
President & CEO