2008 Year in Review

As we wind down on our time remaining in 2008 it’s customary to look back on the months past and remember what was the year of 2008. Throughout the World, throughout Canada there were plenty of developments that made headlines, just as there were in Ontario and within the city of Hamilton. The same holds true for Hamilton Community Credit Union as 2008 saw a year filled with plenty of changes, growth and development. Of course the end of 2008 will always be remembered for the Financial Crisis that took hold of most of the world and is still being played out as we head in to 2009, but there was also a lot of positives especially here at HCCU. Join me for a look back on 2008, you can also click each title to link to the orginal post for each event.

The Beginning of the Blog

January of 2008 saw the beginning of the HCCU blog, a forum that allows HCCU a more personal touch with our members that can’t make it in to our branches as much. With the adoption of technology, many members choose to do more of their banking online, or via Interac cards. Through the HCCU blog we’ve created a place where we can keep our members up to date on the happenings of the Credit Union and our staff. It also provides a place at the end of each post where members can comment, ask questions, or provide feedback. So far the HCCU blog has been a relative success with many members logging in every week to read the latest posts. We hope to continue the HCCU blog in to 2009 as well as introducing new ways that our members can interact with HCCU online.

HCCU Joins The Exchange Network

2008 saw HCCU creating many ways that our members could use their debit cards both for POS purchases and at other FI’s ATM machines at reduced costs. The first method was in partnering up with The Exchange Network to allow our members surcharge free withdrawals from other Credit Union ATMs that are also part of The Exchange. This gave our members access to 2300 ATMs across Canada that they could not only withdrawal from free of surcharges, but could also make deposits at.

Annual General Meeting

March saw our AGM where many of our members met, for the first time, our new CEO, Malcolm Stoffman. As usual our AGM had a fair turnout of members who listened to reports from our management team along with both our internal and external auditors on how your Credit Union preformed over the past fiscal year. As this year marks our 70th anniversary HCCU`s AGM will be a extra special event. Watch here for more details leading up to March 2009.

Launch of the New Website

June saw the launch of HCCU’s new website which I’m sure you`ve all become accustomed too. It was a busy month leading up to the launch with lots of work by our staff and third party web design team but in the end what we came up with was a progressive, interactive, and information rich website that is both modern and aesthetically pleasing. The HCCU website will be an ongoing project that will continue to grow throughout 2009 and the years to come.

Student Loans and LOC’s

In time for the coming school semester, HCCU introduced Student Loans and Lines of Credit, a product that had been extremely sought after by our members. What differs this product from many of the other FI’s student loans is that it is open not just to college or university students, but also to those going in to trade school or any post secondary course. We’re hoping this product will help develop our young HCCU members as they advance themselves academically.

HCCU Debit One Plan

In a second step to help reduce the costs of using ones debit card HCCU introduced the Debit One Plan at the end of summer. This Plan allows for a small monthly fee to be paid in return for unlimited POS use for purchases in stores and 4 withdrawals free of charge at any FI’s ATMs. This is one of the least expensive plans in the market for Debit Card usage in keeping with HCCU’s philosophy of no or low fee banking.

Malcolm Visits Bangladesh

In September our Malcolm was invited by the CCA and ACCU to visit Bangladesh and join in on a workshop to help develop strategies and plans for Asian Credit Unions in their rapidly changing culture. During his five day trip Malcolm kept a journal on the HCCU blog keeping us up to date on his exciting experiences both within the workshop and the amazing city of Dakka, the capital of Bangladesh.

Financial Crisis

As mentioned the Financial Crisis that ripped through the economic world beginning in late 2008 really dominated the headlines despite the positives created in the first three quarters of the year. With an absolute collapse of the worlds stock markets, major financial institutions being forced to close up shop south of the border due impart to a swamp of bad debt and mortgage foreclosures, along with plummeting home values, and a crumbling of the big three automakers, 2008 certainly had its doom and gloom. Thankfully due to strong government economic regulations in Canada, and HCCU’s tried and tested method of investing local money in our local economy at minimal risk we have been able to forego the meltdown that seemed to capture so many others. That’s not to say that a poor economy and tightening credit markets did not affect us, but we are certainly in a strong financial position and see this as an important time to show the values of a local Credit Union and our ability to serve our local community.

Participation Rebate

Finally we come to the last bit of financial information posted every year by HCCU - Our ever popular Participation Rebate. Once again, despite the credit crisis affecting global markets, HCCU is please to pay back a Participation Rebate to those members with Loans, Lines of Credits, Mortgages, Term Deposits or GICs at HCCU. On December 31st in the late afternoon, expect to see 8% of the interest made or paid to us deposited back in to your account, split 5% in to your savings (0) account and 3% in to your permanent capital (.28). Another successful year for HCCU and for all of our members.

That concludes our look back on 2008. We look forward to seeing you next year where you can expect to see a lot of new things at HCCU. I know I’m excited.

Have a Safe and Happy New Year.