I read in Credit Union Times (and other publications) that credit union net income was down in 2007. What concerns me is that any bonus dividends or loan interest rate refunds paid out during the year are not included in the bottom line figure.

Many credit unions do the right thing and return earnings to the members. Why does our own industry not make this clearer when reporting financial details? Our credit union was fortunate enough to provide both a bonus dividend and loan rebate in 2007, our first profitable year in the past several. If you go strictly by our 5300 bottom line, we had $8,000 in net earnings, but that is after giving back nearly $90,000.

In our efforts to put our best foot forward, I believe that we should take the whole financial picture into account.