ROCHESTER, N.Y. – ESL Federal Credit Union is among the latestin the industry to issues a dividend to its members. The $2.8billion CU said more than 180,000 members will receive their shareof a $6 million dividend this month. To calculate the dividend, theCU added the total dividends a member earned on their shareaccounts at ESL to the total interest paid on ESL loans throughoutthe year and then multiplied by the “dividend percentage factor”for that year. The factor for 2005 was rounded to 3.145%. Forinstance, a member has a mortgage, an auto loan and a home equityline of credit with ESL, all of which she has paid interest on. Shealso earns dividends from Money Maker and IRA accounts. Herinterest paid and dividends earned total $8,908.52. Using the 2005factor of 3.145%, the member would receive a dividend of $280.17.“Each year that ESL earns more than necessary to keep us strong andhealthy, we return a portion of our earnings to members in the formof a cash dividend,” the CU said. “At ESL, members, notstockholders, benefit from our earnings.”