A Message from Mark Hawkins, Altura Credit Union CEO
The year ended Dec. 31, 2010, followed the same difficult path we began traveling in late 2007 as the U.S. economy began its freefall. It has been a tough few years but I am pleased to report the first few months of 2011 indicate that signs of improvement are now evident.
While we may not see a strong local marketplace for some time, there is reason to feel encouraged about Altura’s prospects and, hopefully, for each of you as well.
The Federal government declared June 2009 to be the official end of the “Great Recession.” The Inland Empire, however, lagged behind with continued high unemployment and challenged residential real estate valuations. Job losses have upended Members’ lives, hindering their ability to repay auto and home loans, which in turn, negatively impacted Altura. Other Members continued to be averse to borrowing money, Altura’s principle revenue source. Nonetheless, we are seeing tentative signs of improvement.
For the year ended Dec. 31, 2010, Altura set aside $29.4 million in loan loss provisions. This remains a large total, but it’s a significant reduction from the prior year’s $40.7 million in provision expense.
We ended 2010 with a loss of $5.8 million on assets of $722 million, a substantial improvement over 2009’s restated loss of $20.1 million on assets of $851 million. However, the slow return to profitability led us to again make the difficult decision to close branches to reduce our operating costs.
In February 2010, we closed our Coachella branch, which had originally been slated to close in mid-2009. In January 2011, we merged our two Hemet branches, and in May 2011, we closed the Altura branch inside the Moreno Valley Walmart Super Center and converted three other locations – Murrieta, Temecula and Riverside’s University Avenue – to electronic-only branches.
You have had to tighten your belts, and so have we. You have had to reduce expenses, and so have we. We are now seeing that those efforts are making a difference, for us and for many of our Members.
All of us, individuals and businesses have had to adjust to a new economic reality. We can clearly see that our Members have been working hard to reduce their debt, increase their savings and get themselves on more sound financial footing. We have been helping when and where we can – with loan modifications, financial education classes and online financial literacy tools.
Altura has more than 106,000 Members, and we can see, that as a group, things are slowly improving and that gives us optimism about the future. We know that some Members are experiencing recovery much faster and more strongly than others. As a not-for-profit financial, we are a cooperative owned by our Members, and as our Members get their financial houses in order, the benefit of the cooperative is that the gathering strength is there to help those who are still struggling.
We know many of you have experienced frustration, with the economy, the job market, rising prices and even decisions Altura has had to make about closing branches. We understand your frustration; we have experienced it ourselves. We appreciate your loyalty, and we appreciate your support during what has been a trying time for everyone.
With the support of Members like YOU, we made the hard decisions and faced the tough times. We weathered this storm together, and we remain together as we get our ship righted and moving again in the right direction. We can now face 2011 with more optimism than we have experienced in many years
Wishing you all the best,
