Message from CEO James Gergen

We are a local, member-owned institution and we take great pride in our mission to serve you. The financial results below are for the 12 months ending April 30, 2023. The other accomplishments are since our last annual meeting:

• We continue to be financially strong and again earned a 5-star rating from the independent rating firm Bauer Financial.
• You continued to trust us with your deposits and direct deposits and our total deposits grew to a record $532.5 million.
• We were again incredibly busy extending affordable credit, and our total loans grew to a record $389.7 million.
• We added over 1,200 net new members and increased our total membership to a record 62,145.
• Our Total Members’ Equity increased by 11.4% and reached a record $54.9 million.
• We were quick to answer the phone when you called us. For the first 4 months of 2023 we answered over 94% of the calls to our main phone queue in under 30 seconds. That was a lot of quick answering as you called our main queue over 15,000 times per month!
• We achieved status as a Community Development Financial Institution and were awarded a grant for 2023 which helps us serve our members of modest means.
• We launched a new loan as an alternative to payday loans. Members love their MyCash loans as the process is incredibly fast and convenient and relies on a member’s direct deposit history and not their credit report.
• We revamped and improved our offering to our teenage members aged 14-17 by introducing our NeXGen program.
• We updated the look and feel of our website.
• We introduced new tools to support financial wellness education for our members.
• We significantly increased our lending to members most at risk from predatory lenders.
• We eliminated our fee for overdraft transfers. Members can link their accounts together and we will automatically transfer money to a linked account with a shortfall.
• We stopped charging overdraft fees for items of $5.00 or less and we put a cap on the daily total of NSF and Courtesy Pay fees we charge.
• We installed 18 new ATMs, improved the drive-up lanes at our Greenville-Butler Road and Greer branch ATMs, and we stopped putting $50 bills in our ATMs. We heard you. You don’t want anything larger than a $20 denomination.
• We now support preferred first names on debit cards, so we can emboss your nickname or other preferred first name on your card

On behalf of all of our staff I thank you for your continued membership and loyalty! We have the best members! I also thank our all-volunteer Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee. Their wisdom, guidance, and support continue to inspire us on our mission to deliver service and value every day.