Overview of North Country Federal Credit Union
North Country Federal Credit Union was first established in the year 1987 and is the 3rd largest credit union operating in the state of Vermont as measured by total assets. The credit union traces its history back to 1950 and was the result of General Electric employees in Burlington organizing to form a credit union. Today the credit union is larger than 91% of all credit unions in the country. North Country Federal Credit Union primarily focuses on providing mortgages and lines of credit and these loans represent 56% of its outstanding lending. The company has a total of 12 branches and employs a total of 178 employees.
Who Can Join?
Membership is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or goes to school in any of these counties in Vermont: Addison County, Caledonia County, Chittenden County, Essex County, Franklin County, Essex County and Franklin County. Membership is also open to individuals that live, work, worship or attend school in Grafton County and Coos County in New Hampshire, and also Clinton County, New York.
Products and Services
The following accounts and loans are available to the credit union’s members:
- Checking Accounts – the credit union offers 3 checking accounts all under the Kasasa brand: Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Cash Back and Kasasa Tunes. All accounts have no minimum balance and no monthly service fees, and in addition to this account holders earn rewards on a monthly basis and get ATM fee refunds nationwide.
- Savings Accounts – minimum of $5 to open and maintain an account. The savings account earns dividends as long as you remain a member of the credit union.
- Credit Cards – main product offered is the Visa Platinum Rewards Credit Card. If paired with one of the Kasasa Checking Accounts credit card holders can earn Visa rewards. The credit card has no annual, balance transfer or cash advance fees.
- Home Loans – North Country Federal Credit Union offers a variety of mortgage types to its members including fixed rate, FHA and VA mortgage loans. You can visit this page to learn more or to start the process.
Balance Sheet Overview
The credit union has total assets of $898 million. It has a deposit base of $807 million which works out to $12,822 of deposits per member compared with the state-wide average of $14,075 and national average of $13,804. North Country Federal Credit Union also has net loans outstanding of $644 million. The credit union also has a loan to deposit ratio of 80% which is higher than the average credit union of similar size. The loan to deposit ratio is a good way to assess how liquid a bank or credit union’s balance sheet is. Taking a closer look at the credit union’s loan portfolio, we see that mortgages and lines of credit represent 56% of the total and currently stands at $358 million, while there is $144 million of loans outstanding from auto loans which represents 22% of the credit union’s loan portfolio.
Contact Information
- Main Office Address: Po Box 64709, Burlington, VT 05406-4709
- Website: http://www.northcountry.org
- Phone: (802) 657-6847
- Charter Number: 24312
- Charter Year: 1987
- Employees: 178
- Routing Number: 211691004
- Membership Trends: North Country Federal Credit Union has a membership base of 62,931 which is significantly larger than the average credit union operating in the state of Vermont. The average credit union in the state has 22,809 members. Over the past three years, the credit union’s total base of members has increased by 22%.
North Country Federal Credit Union Financials
The above chart summarizes the trends in key balance sheet items for North Country Federal Credit Union. First off, it is noteworthy that across the board, all four items have increased over the past year. The credit union’s assets have expanded by 13.3% while its total loans have expanded by 8.8%. In addition, the company’s mortgages and lines of credit have expanded by 15.3% while its deposits have expanded by 13.7%. The net worth of a credit union provides us with an idea of how the credit union has performed over the years. It is the total value that the credit union has created for its members since inception. North Country Federal Credit Union has a total net worth of $77 million. This implies that the credit union has a net worth per member of $1,220 which is below the national average of $1,633.
Overview of the Credit Union’s Performance Metrics
In the above chart we have displayed three statistics that are important in evaluating a credit union’s performance and shown how North Country Federal Credit Union compares on these metrics, in addition to detailing how the credit union performed on each metric in the prior year. Starting with the company’s return on assets, on this metric North Country Federal Credit Union is above the average credit union in its peer set and over the past year ROA has improved substantially with a total change of 0.55%. Return on assets tells us how productive a company is being with its asset base. Moving on to the credit union’s delinquency rate, which tells us how much of a credit union’s loan book is delinquent, the credit union is above its peer group on this metric and compared with the prior year it has improved substantially. Keep in mind that a higher delinquency rate indicates a lower performing loan book so a declining rate is a favorable trend. The net worth ratio for the credit union is 8.6% and has been relatively stable compared with the prior year figure of 8.6%. The credit union is also below its peer group average of 9.8% on this metric. Finally, based on the NCUA guidelines, the company’s net worth ratio would classify it as well capitalized.
Conclusion
Our final rating for North Country Federal Credit Union, after assessing the credit union on what we consider to be the important metrics, is 2.1 out of 5.0, which is below average. Importantly, please be aware that none of the information presented is meant to be investment advice or advice of any form. All of the information and views expressed in this note and on this site are purely for informational purposes.