I have never attended the Annual General Meeting of the Holy Redeemer Credit Union, so last month when Miss Jane invited me to attend, I readily accepted, even though I am a member of the La Inmaculada Credit Union. The meeting was lively, the crowd in an upbeat mood, overall it was a good experience.
During the meeting shareholders, including children—Miss Jane informed me that since the children were also shareholders, the children were welcomed – listened closely to the report. It was an impressive report, indicating that HRCU had total assets of $348.3 million; total loans of $218 million of which $77,768,477.99 were loaned out last year. This $77 million in loans were made up of loans ranging from housing to education and from medical to business.
Despite the slowing down of the Belizean economy, HRCU reported impressive profits, netting $25 million.
The best part of this is that like HRCU, there are other impressive credit unions around the country. Of late, La Inmaculada Credit Union (LICU) has been making great strides in modernizing and expanding its facilities. This weekend LICU will hold their AGM in Orange Walk Town.
At the AGM, they will report total assets of $25,408,065, a loan portfolio of $20,699,0404, of which $11,823,015 was loaned out last year. This $11,823,015 was loaned to 4,280 of their members. Yet despite the hard economic times, and with all the problems in the sugar industry, La Inmaculada Credit Union will report a healthy profit and will recommend a dividend on savings.
Credit Unions in Belize are no longer these small financial institutions. All of them started off very small with a few members; today the credit union movement has a membership of more than 111,000, or one in every three Belizeans.
In Toledo in 2000, Mr. Oscar Requena and Mr. Fuentes, the then president of the Toledo branch of the Belize Teacher's Union encouraged the teachers to start the Toledo Teachers Credit Union. They started with 87 members and $7887.50 in capital. By 2009 they had grown to 5,300 members and capital of over $8.4 million
Over the years, these institutions have grown not only in size but also in the services they offer. Today credit unions offer money transfers, provide ATM services, offer fixed deposits, insurance for its members and even assist in the preparation of legal documents, not to mention the size of loans that credit unions can offer to its members.
In 1986, after my brother and I had just graduated from university, we attempted to get a loan from the banks to start a business. We were rejected because we had no credit history and no one to guarantee our loan. Since we were both members of La Inmaculada Credit Union from boyhood, we managed to get a loan to start off our first business.
Like ours, there are thousands of stories where the credit unions have helped its members with loans ranging from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. And despite these huge numbers of mostly small loans, the delinquency rates or non-payments of loans of most credit unions are low.
For example, the latest report form the Central Bank stated that the delinquency rate at the banks range from a low 4.8 percent to as high as 22.6 percent. At the Belize Small Farmers and Business Bank, their delinquency rate is as high as 60 percent, while the delinquency rate at HRCU is 3.7 percent and at LICU it is 2.65 percent.
Many may ask, why have the credit unions been so successful? The answer is simple; the members are the owners of the credit union. They elect their board of directors and have a close look at what is happening. Their interest rates are lower than the banks while at the same time the credit unions offer a wide range of services. With all this, they manage to keep their operating costs low and their profits go back to the shareholders.
In good times or bad, it is clear that Credit Unions in Belize will continue to grow both in size and strength and as they do they will continue to offer a wider range of services, rendering it the real peoples' banks.
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Source: The Belize Times
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