As we close the books on 2024 and look toward the future with optimism, we want to take a moment to reflect on the past year including its challenges, its milestones, and the exemplary resilience and commitment of our team and members. Despite navigating one of the most complex financial environments in recent memory, Community First Credit Union delivered sound financial results, advanced key strategic initiatives, and continued to invest in a strong foundation for the future.
The Economic Landscape and Industry Outlook
We entered 2024 with a great deal of speculation about the future path of interest rates. While many professional pundits predicted six or more rate cuts, we were more cautious and projected three. While that caution proved to be prudent, the timing of those cuts happened later in the year than expected, with the first not arriving until mid-September. This “higher for longer” rate environment defined the year, continuing to exert pressure on loan demand and the cost of funds on deposits. For a rate-sensitive business, this presented both headwinds and opportunities.
Real estate and auto loan originations were challenging, with mortgage purchase activity nationwide at a 30-year low. Homeowners continued to remain locked into ultra-low COVID-era financing rates, with elevated prices and low inventories in northern California further straining affordability. Borrowers seeking to purchase a new automobile continued to face higher financing costs, sticker prices, fuel costs, and insurance premiums. Despite these challenges, we adapted and responded with agility.
As a credit union, we're here for our local community. Providing the best financial services, education and customer service is just the start!
You can catch us all throughout our 5-county footprint: foodbanks, parades, fairs, chili cook-offs, and more. We don't just talk the talk, we walk the walk! This includes working with the many amazing organizations that help strengthen our community through their educational outreach, fundraising, services, and support.
From volunteering at the Redwood Empire Food Bank to our Go Local Rewards program that supports local businesses, we're here to not only make a difference in our community, but empower our neighbors to do the same. Click below to view all of the local organizations we work with!
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2024 marked Community First's 10th celebration of Discovery Day! Every fall, our whole company joins together to meet up with long-time colleagues, meet some new faces, and spend a day giving back to our community and enjoying each other's company. This year, CFCU'ers volunteered their time to the Redwood Empire Food Bank, packaging more than 27,000 meals for our neighbors in need!
As a credit-union founded by teachers, a key value of Community First is our dedication to promoting and supporting education within our five-county footprint. We do this not only with special loans for prospective teachers and financial literacy programs, but also through our scholarships and awards! We've donated $12,000 to our local students, as well as $9,100 in awards to local educators. Financially empowering our young students and teachers set our whole community up for success in the future.
One of our most member-anticipated events are our shred days! Held throughout our five-county footprint, shred days offer members and their friends and family the opportunity to safely and securely dispose of their unneeded documents. We hosted 7 shred days in 2024, totaling thousands of pounds of documents! We love these opportunities to interact with our members and help them keep their information safe.
Agriculture is a big part of Northern California! Community First is proud to be able to help young farmers in our community get their start with our Youth Agriculture Loans. They are not only an amazing financial product helping aspiring farmers reach their goals, but also offer the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of borrowing money, interest, creating a budget and business plan, and what having a bank account is all about! In 2024, we funded 121 of these loans, totaling $245,575. That'll do pig, that'll do.
After an amazing launch in 2023, Community First Digital Banking continues to be our fastest growing member service channel! In 2024, we’re boasting an average 98.42% rate in successful logins with 3,233 more of our members registering. Our dedicated Digital Banking team is constantly enhancing our platform; adding more services, value and convenience such as financial planning tools, SavvyMoney credit score services, estate planning, and more.
2024 marked the introduction of more Community First products and services to meet the needs of our members with the convenience of modern tech.
Rapid-Dough
Meet Rapid-Dough: a $500 loan that can be approved and funded in minutes. A better alternative to predatory ‘payday’ loans, Rapid-Dough helps our members find some breathing room to pay an unexpected expense. With an application available online and in Digital Banking, we funded 480 loans from our launch in October through the end of 2024!
Digital Estate Planning
We also launched an accessible way for our members to plan for the future with wills and trusts. Integrated within CFCU Digital Banking,this self-service tool includes estate planning forms, document automation, and member support. Members complete a simple, secure, guided questionnaire and finalize their documents at a local branch.
To assist the Supervisory Committee in monitoring the credit union’s fiscal activities we retained the services of an independent public accounting firm to perform an audit of the financial statements and records of Community First Credit Union as of December 31, 2024. Doeren Mayhew Assurance performed the annual financial statement audit. It is the Supervisory Committee’s opinion that the financial statements for Community First Credit Union as of December 31, 2024, provide a fair and accurate representation of the fiscal condition of the credit union.
We would like to extend our gratitude to the volunteers and staff for their on-going commitment to the credit union. We are pleased to report that Community First Credit Union is fiscally strong and well positioned to continue to serve its members. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Committee, it has been our pleasure to serve the membership in 2024.
The Supervisory Committee of Community First Credit Union works in conjunction with the Board of Directors to monitor and review the credit union’s accounting procedures and practices. The Supervisory Committee endeavors to ensure that all fiscal operations are performed accurately and in compliance with applicable regulations and generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
For the year ending 2024, the credit union had total assets of $806 million, reflecting a 1.4% decrease from the prior year. Share growth declined by 1.86% compared to 2023. While inflation continued to ease, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) still rose by 2.9% for the year, above the Fed’s long-term price stability target of 2.0%. A combination of resilient consumer spending and tighter liquidity across depository institutions continued to put upward pressure on the cost of funds throughout 2024, increasing the credit union’s cost of funds to 1.58% from 1.03% a year prior.
Despite these headwinds, Net Income for the year was a healthy $3.13 million, as the credit union continued to navigate a challenging rate environment. Despite the marked increase in cost of funds, Net Interest Margin improved by 6 basis points in 2024 to 3.33%. The Allowance for Credit Losses was $7.0 million at the end of 2024, representing a ratio of 1.21% to total loans. Reportable delinquencies improved to 1.0% from 1.45% from a year prior, a significant improvement.
The credit union improved its regulatory Net Worth ratio in 2024 to 9.45%, up from 9.04% at the end of the previous year. This increase demonstrates the organization’s continued fiscal strength, prudent financial management, and long-term sustainability. The credit union ended the year with a very robust primary liquidity position of $117 million, or 14.5% of assets. The credit union had no outstanding borrowings on the balance sheet ending 2024. The credit union is well positioned for 2025 and the future.
In closing, we recognize that our members have many options when selecting a financial institution. Thank you for your membership and continued support of Community First.
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