Share the Wealth (STW) is a program for credit unions that are looking to grow their loan portfolio through high-quality home equity loans with the option of building additional fee income. STW leverages the cooperative nature of credit unions through a Home Equity referral program. A Coordinating Credit Union develops relationships with First Mortgage Originators to obtain home equity referrals and match these loan opportunities with other credit unions interested in funding home equity loans. The program provides fee revenue for the Coordinating Credit Union, in addition to loan interest income and the opportunity for developing relationships with new members for participating credit unions.
February 1, 2010 Update: An initial pilot of Share the Wealth is well-underway at West Community Credit Union ($120 million, O’Fallon, MO). Since lauching in the fall of 2009, they are averaging about 15-20 loans a month overall in the program and expect that volume to double in the summer months. About 8-10 loans have been referred to a partner credit union to date. West Community expects to generate about $15,000 in fee income this year from this program. Share the Wealth is positioned to grow quickly as they have identified additional sources of loan referrals and are seeking out additional credit union partners.
“Without this program, we would have had no loan growth in January. However, we were able to grow loans over half a million in January due to Share the Wealth. This will be a big contributor to our 9.5% budgeted loan growth goal this year. “—West Community Credit Union CFO Jason Peach.
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