New Year Message from Our CEO

Dear Valued Member,

I hope you had an enjoyable holiday season with family and friends and extend my sincere best wishes to you for much happiness, good health and prosperity in 2024.

Delta Community continues to operate as a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative, and our 1,300+ employees find significant purpose and fulfillment in serving your financial needs. In fact, their collective pride, camaraderie and dedication enabled us to earn recognition as a Best Place to Work this past September. The Atlanta Business Chronicle placed Delta Community in the #1 spot among the city’s largest companies (>500 employees) based on the results of an anonymous workplace survey that the newspaper commissions annually with an independent, national market research firm.

Our service-oriented mission and conservative balance sheet management practices have taken on greater meaning during the past 18 months as inflationary and geopolitical concerns have put have further strain on a difficult operating environment. We have been able to maintain Delta Community’s strong financial position and provide members with consistent, substantial support.

Key investments and accomplishments in 2023 include:

• Strategic capital management. Delta Community’s net worth ratio rose to a high on par with pre-pandemic levels and is well in excess of industry averages. With such significant equity, we can sustain value to members, fund branch expansion and introduce new services.
• Consistent, competitive dividend pricing. While many providers engaged in conditional or teaser rates to address short-term liquidity concerns, Delta Community continued to offer a superior combination of service, convenience and value. We routinely position all of our deposit rates on the high side of local market ranges. We went further in 2023 by ensuring the yield on our 12-month CD was among the best available nationally, including rates from online-only institutions or for-profit providers that invest in higher-margin, higher-risk assets.
• Direct loan growth of more than 7%. When many banks were tightening credit, Delta Community still had ample capacity to lend to our members.
• Annual member growth of almost 4%. We added more than 18,500 new members on a net basis, and our total membership count will soon surpass the 500,000 mark. This steady, quality growth is win-win as it allows us to help more consumers and better leverage our costs.
• Industry leading member satisfaction score. We conduct monthly and annual surveys to solicit member feedback and suggestions. As part of the surveys, we track the percentage of members who are likely to recommend Delta Community to others. For the fifth consecutive year, we earned the highest Net Promoter Score^® among credit unions nationally in a prominent annual benchmarking study facilitated by Raddon Financial.

Looking ahead to 2024, we have numerous initiatives underway to both expand and enhance critical services: i) we will announce in early January the site of our 33rd branch, which will be welcome news to members in Butts, Henry and Spalding counties; ii) we will broaden our checking offering in the first quarter to three distinct account types, including a no-overdraft option; and iii) we will begin adding contactless technology to all Visa^® debit and credit cards.

The operating environment for all businesses is likely to remain challenging and unpredictable throughout the coming year given the election cycle at home and armed conflicts abroad; however, you can rest assured of Delta Community’s current financial stability and prudent practices. Our commitment to member service is a constant that you can count on.

We recognize the trust that you place in us and appreciate every opportunity to serve you.

Sincerely,

Hank Halter

Chief Executive Officer

$10,000 Awarded to Two HBCU Students

In December, Delta Community and Atlanta radio station V-103 presented our final HBCU Scholarships of 2023, awarding $5,000 each to Alexis Sims and Kandon Fears.

Alexis Sims is a second-year scholar at Spelman College and plans on using her Bachelor of Arts in philosophy and political science to pursue her passions of civil rights law, nonprofit service and community building. Alexis’ collegiate academic achievements include being honored as a Dean's List scholar for two years and earning membership into the Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society. In April 2023, Alexis established the Spelman College Mock Trial Association; she is also an Associate for the Spelman College Social Justice Program and a member of the Morehouse Spelman Pre-Law Society. Alexis volunteers as a reading guide for the SpelREADS Literacy Program, and contributed more than fifty hours of tutoring in her first year of college. As a reading guide, Alexis assists in increasing the literacy rate of elementary and middle school students in the Atlanta Public School System. After graduation, Alexis plans to attend law school. She is from Stockbridge, Georgia and graduated from Eagle’s Landing High School in 2022.

Kandon Fears is a sophomore at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in the School of Journalism and Graphic Communication and plans on becoming a political journalist. Currently he is a staff writer for the student newspaper, serves as a host for FAMU TV-20 Venom Affair Show, and he is a field reporter for FAMU’s TV-20 Word Around Campus show. Kandon’s volunteer service activities include participating in voter registration drives and FAMU Day at the Georgia State Capitol. He also became a proud member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and became active in The Sankofa Kinship of Big Brothers Little Brothers Mentoring Program, Inc., during his sophomore year. Kandon is from Lithonia, Georgia and graduated from Arabia Mountain High School in 2022.

Throughout 2023, Delta Community awarded a total of $20,000 in scholarships to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The HBCU Scholarship is part of our annual Scholarship Program. Visit our website to learn more about all of the scholarships we offer.

2024 Philanthropic Recipients Named

We are excited to announce that we have selected our 2024 Philanthropic Fund recipients. Throughout the year, Delta Community will invest $150,000 in support of 20 nonprofit organizations that provide education and health and human services to its participants. An employee committee, pictured above, selected the grant recipients from the many applications received last year. Among the 20 organizations to receive a grant are Atlanta Music Project, Global Growers Network and Kidz2Leaders.

With the awarding of these 2024 grants, the Philanthropic Fund will have invested nearly $1.2 million in grants to approximately 220 nonprofit organizations in metro Atlanta since its launch in 2014. Visit our Philanthropic Fund page for the full list of recipients and more information on how your organization can apply for a grant.

Do More in 2024 Youth Savings Contest

The "Do More In 2024" Youth Savings Contest is a fantastic opportunity for Sandy Savers and Cool Cash Kids to visualize their financial goals and win prizes! Delta Community wants to see what your young savers are excited to spend, share and save throughout 2024. Please have your child use our contest entry form to show what they are spending, saving and sharing with a drawing, picture, fun video, song, poem or any other creative way! We are accepting entries through January 31, and we'll select ten winners, based on creativity, to receive a $100 deposit to their Youth Savings Account.

Activate Your Bonus Rewards

Each quarter, we offer an opportunity for members who have our Visa^® Platinum Rewards Credit Card to earn Bonus Reward Points for purchases in select categories from restaurants to retail.

If you’re a Platinum Rewards Credit Card holder, be sure to enroll each quarter to earn 2x or 3x the Reward Points on the purchases you make every day. Activate bonus categories for January through March to earn 3x Reward Points for eligible purchases at Restaurants and Fast Food, Wholesale Clubs, Discount and Department Stores, 2x Reward Points for eligible purchases at Gas Stations and Grocery Stores, and 1x Reward Points for every $1 spent on eligible purchases in categories outside the bonus categories.

To activate, log in to your account and select Reward Points under the Additional Services tab or More in our Mobile App. Click the link to enroll for the current quarter or an upcoming quarter. When you’re ready to redeem your points, you can choose from a wide variety of Cash Back, Gift Cards, Merchandise and Travel with no blackout dates.

Plan Your Everything with Delta Community Retirement & Investment Services

Whether you want to kickstart your financial future or refine your current strategy, we have you covered with Delta Community Retirement & Investment Services.¹ Connect with a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ professional who will take the time to get to know your needs and help you create a plan for wherever you are right now. This team’s main objective is to ensure members are not only investing in their current life journey but also making wise financial decisions through the many important stages of life.

To learn more visit DeltaCommunityCU.com/PlanYourEverything or to schedule an appointment or request more information, please email DCRIS@DeltaCommunityCU.com or call 404-677-4890.

Financial Education Center Seminars

At Delta Community, we know that knowledge is the key to reaching your financial goals and establishing good financial habits. That’s why we’re offering a series of workshops each month focusing on a different aspect of personal finance. Whether you’re planning for a major milestone or trying to better manage your finances, our Financial Education Center offers the tools to help you achieve financial success.

Our January series focuses on Taking Control of Your Finances. We’ll share effective strategies to recover from holiday expenses, provide insights and guidance on how to create a spending and savings plan, including an interactive session where you can receive personalized assistance to help refine your budget, as well as explore psychological factors that influence spending, and discuss ways to maximize your digital banking experience. 

• January 9: 10 Steps to Financial Success | Live Webinar by BALANCE
• January 10: How to Recover from Holiday Financial Stress | Live Webinar
• January 17: Basics of Budgeting | Live Webinar
• January 18: 10 Steps to Financial Success | Live Webinar
• January 23: The Psychology of Spending | Live Webinar
• January 25: Build Your Budget | In-Person Seminar
• January 30: Digital Money Management | Live Webinar

 Check our Events & Seminars page for more information on upcoming seminars.

Monthly Blogs

• Are You Missing Money in Your Account? Maybe Your Checks Were Stolen and Washed: Disappearing but cashed checks could mean you’re the victim of a veteran, but evergreen, type of fraud known as “check washing”. Check washing is when fraudsters first steal paper checks from personal (or even U.S. Postal Service office) mailboxes and then soak them in ink-removing chemicals to erase the information handwritten on the check, such as the payee name, dollar amount and date, creating blank spaces for the scammer to write in whatever new information they want.