Message from the Chairman of the Board

Being the board chairman at Members Choice Credit Union is more than a title for me, it's an opportunity to serve you, our members.

2021 is our 80th anniversary and I've been part of Members Choice, first as a member and then a board member, for over half of that time now. It was an honor then to be nominated and join the board, and it's still an honor to be serving you now. As chairman, my role is to act on behalf of our membership and see how we can continue to grow and serve our area, helping families like you get access to the funds and resources you need for financial success.

Over the years, one thing I know is how resilient this city is. Whether it's a recession, a flood, and even now, a pandemic, we as a community reshape and rebuild, and we're always stronger for it. Our leadership team here at the credit union has taken the same approach and has been strategically reshaping and proactively managing during this past year so that we can better serve you as we start to exit the pandemic. You may have already seen and benefited from the creative ways we've worked to serve our membership in a more virtual environment, such as how we've staffed our branch and solution center teams and improved technology to allow you to do more of your bank business by phone and online.

I want to say ‘thank you’ to the entire board and leadership team at Members Choice for helping to move the credit union movement forward. I also invite all our members to take advantage of the full benefits your membership provides. We’re here for you.

Over this past year, I hope that you and your family have been safe and that in the not-too-distant future we can meet face-to-face again. Thank you for your continued membership during these challenging times. We are so grateful to have you as part of our credit union family.

Sincerely, Johnny Williams, Chairman of the Board of Directors

Message from the President and CEO

As I reflect on 2020, I know it was a uniquely challenging year for many of our members and their families. It was a year of a global pandemic, a global economic recession, presidential elections, and social injustice. It was a year in which everything changed about the ways we work and the ways we live. “Social distancing,” “work-from-home,” and “quarantine” became part of our vernacular. For me, this past year also reinforced the importance of what Members Choice Credit Union does and why we do it. “People-helping-people” as the core of our mission is as important now as ever.

When the pandemic hit, we immediately looked for ways in which we could help our members ease the stress of financial challenges. Within the first month, our teams created new assistance programs to provide support and help our members get access to the additional funds, reduce fees, and give some relief with upcoming payments. This included deferring loan and mortgage payments, creating a new short term loan option to give members quick access to funds, waiving early close-out penalties on all CDs and suspending ATM fees. Overall, we were able to help more than 1,700 of your fellow members with specific assistance for pandemic-related financial concerns. For those families, we know that helped reduce worry in an uncertain year, and that reminds us again of the important role we have as an essential business.

With the health and safety of our employees and members at the forefront, we quickly altered the way we worked as an organization last year. We implemented safety protocols and enhanced cleaning measures in all our branches and provided our employees with continual guidance. We reacted quickly to provide more employees with the tools they needed to serve our members from home, and we increased our drive-thru capabilities so you could access more services while minimizing contact. In fact, some of the changes we implemented, such as increased mobile check deposit limits have proved so popular that we’ve kept them in place today.

We also created some new product offerings in areas where we saw need. Our Texas land loans offering was a direct response to members looking to purchase unimproved property and have their own piece of nature for recreation now, or as an investment for future retirement. We created an auto loan for first-time buyers with more flexible and simpler terms to help members access reliable transportation and build their credit.

Last summer, Members Choice also launched our new Debit Mastercard® to better serve our members by providing a quick and convenient “touchless” tap-to-pay card payment option. We are continually looking for additional identify theft protection features for our members, and the Mastercard ID Theft Protection™ services provide added benefits as debit continues to gain preference over cash and other options for payments. Looking forward, we are also working on additional improvements to our digital channels to streamline your online account and loan opening application to continue helping you gain access to us, whether by branch or from your home.

2020 was anything but normal or easy. It took teamwork for us to continue serving our members during the pandemic. I am very proud of what we accomplished as a team last year, given all the challenges we encountered. I am also proud of our employees, as essential workers in our community they demonstrated resilience and commitment during these unprecedented times and for that I extend a very big “Thank you.” I also want to thank you, our members, for your continued business and trust in us. We’ve overcome a lot this year and I look forward to a brighter and better year ahead.

Thank You, Randy Theilig, President & CEO