Stronger Together

As a financial cooperative, Northwest Community Credit Union is all about the strength of the whole. We believe in connections that lift barriers and create support for members who need access to financial services. See the whole 2020 Annual Report.

A message from John D. Iglesias, President and CEO of Northwest Community Credit Union

Our members looked to us to help with deep needs in 2020: COVID-19 affected all Oregon communities, as a result of lost income from reduced wages or entire employment sector layoffs due to restrictions in public activities during the phased shutdown. The severity of this impact led NWCU to quickly develop capacity to offer U.S. Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. Two small businesses, Bridgeway House of Eugene (serving children and families with autism) and TenDown Bowling, Roseburg are among 256 member businesses that have expressed how critical these loans have been in helping them survive the pandemic’s extreme business impact.

All NWCU teams were called on to extend support of every aspect of member services, while preventing the spread of community infection; protecting employee health; and maintaining high service levels to our community and membership. We immediately offered appointment scheduling online for member access to in-branch services to continue to serve members in person; we installed safe distance markers and retail sneeze guards, as well as providing masks at the door and limiting visitor numbers.

"My first concern was meeting members' needs: We were able to keep our branches open, as members were flexible with changes to meet safety requirements."

We also created secure, networked alternate work sites, in order to relocate concentrated teams of critical services employees to offsite or distributed locations. These teams represented the credit union’s full call center, consumer loan center, and accounting group—reflecting a total of 107 employees. This has allowed us to continue to provide full scale teams to respond to increased daily financial transaction requests, maintaining member access to cash and credit at a time of high need.

These measures allowed us to serve with relatively few interruptions while protecting the health of all.

In the natural world, powerful forces act “at a distance” —electric fields and gravity, among them. In 2020, NWCU teams demonstrated the lively force of our bond, together in action, and our shared commitment to member services.

A message from David Rainwater, Northwest Community Credit Union Board Chair

FOCUSED FINANCIAL HEALTH & GROWTH —The pandemic and the recession posed serious challenges in 2020, yet NWCU was still able to achieve a Return on Average Assets of 0.8%, with a significantly reduced Operating Expense Ratio of 3.28%. By the year’s end, we reflected a healthy Net Worth Ratio of 9.74%. The credit union also experienced loan portfolio growth of 4.07%, as well as significant asset growth of 29.16%, yielding a year-end total of $1.51 billion in assets. These accomplishments were made possible by proactively tackling challenges, generating operating and non-operating income, reducing expenses, and creating efficiencies throughout the credit union.

TREMENDOUS HELP EXTENDED TO OUR MEMBERSHIP — The sudden economic urgency of a global pandemic and subsequent shocks to employment and consumer spending cycles only deepened NWCU’s commitment to supporting our members’ needs: Throughout 2020, we proactively assisted individual and business members impacted by the pandemic through various channels. We helped 3,927 members impacted by COVID avoid default, either with deferred payment or loan modification, with total loan amount of $241 million. NWCU also originated 256 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, representing over $10.5 million loaned to existing and new business members.

Message from the Supervisory Committee

The Supervisory Committee is a group of appointed members who serve a vital role as trustees providing oversight in the interest of Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU) members. The committee is responsible for making sure that the credit union’s financial records are in order and internal controls are in place to protect the assets of the credit union and its members. During the year, the committee retained Moss Adams, LLP to conduct the annual financial statement audit of NWCU.

Moss Adams completed its audit and has issued an unqualified (clean) auditor’s opinion on the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2020. In addition, Moss Adams did not note any material internal control deficiencies or major issues during its fieldwork.

The Internal Auditor reviewed the membership records, accounts and other areas as directed by the committee to ensure that adequate internal controls are established and maintained to safeguard the credit union’s assets. NWCU Internal Audit did not report any significant weakness in internal controls or other areas covered during its internal audits.

As the credit union continues to grow, we look forward to another successful year and would like to express our appreciation to the dedicated employees, management, and NWCU Board of Directors.

2020 Financials

Balance sheet totals as of December 31, 2020:

Assets
Loans (Net)	$976,104,996
Cash	$318,105,366
Investments	$156,364,516
Land and Buildings (Net)	$38,049,088
National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund	11,094,631
Other Assets	$15,059,33
Total Assets	$1,514,777,930

Liabilities and Equity
Deposits	$1,350,865,131
Borrowings	-
Other Liabilities	$16,386,257
Member Equity	$147,256,699
Unrealized Gain/Loss on Investments	$269,843
Total Liabilities and Equity	$1,514,777,930

Income Statement: 12-Month Period Ending December 31, 2020

Income
Interest on Loans	$45,003,408
Income from Investments	$2,347,000
Other Income	$19,706,265
$67,056,673

Expenses
Compensation and Benefits	$23,978,899
Operations	$14,883,152
Occupancy	$3,391,258
Provision for Loan Losses	$5,836,005
Marketing	$1,601,906
Interest on Deposits	$6,758,716
$56,449,936

Net Income	$10,606,737