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January 3, 2012
Dear Members,
As I look back, I can say with great pleasure that 2011 was a very exciting year for PPL GOLD Credit Union. PPL GOLD hosted many events throughout the year for our members including our Tech Talk Seminar, a College Fair, Member Appreciation Day, Financial Literacy Seminar and a farewell retirement party for long-time PPL GOLD employee Pat Roth.
The summer kicked things off with our first ever Tech Talk Seminar. The topic was Internet Safety, and the seminar is part of a new series of financial literacy and safety programs the credit union is offering to our members. The Tech Talk provided members with the strategies, skills and mindset needed to protect themselves, their computer and their privacy when they connect to the Internet.
During the summer we also held our first College Fair and began our TV Membership Drive promotion. We had two information sessions during the College Fair for those planning on attending college in the future. The first presentation provided members with the strategies and skills to use their PPL GOLD accounts at school. The second was given by Greg Mitton, Director of Financial Aid and Associate Dean of Admissions at Muhlenberg College. Our most recent presentation on financial literacy was entitled “Demystifying the Financial Planning Process“ with financial adviser Chris Morello from the Philadelphia-based myCIO Wealth Partners. Mr. Morello reviewed the importance of personal financial planning and discussed why getting control of your financial future may not be as scary a task as you might think. We had a total of nearly 200 attendees and more financial literacy presentations are being planned.
During the fall, PPL GOLD and its members celebrated over 30 years of dedicated service from PPL GOLD employee Pat Roth. We also celebrated Member Appreciation Day in which members joined PPL GOLD Credit Union for a day of food, fun and festivities. Members enjoyed spinning our prize wheel and taking home gift cards from many places including Wawa, Subway, iTunes, Bath & Body Works and more. The day ended with a tailgating finale at the Lehigh Division that evening. PPL GOLD’s Member Appreciation Day was a great success, and we look forward to continuing our appreciation of our members not just on this day, but every day.
We held a big promotion from July to November where one randomly selected winner would receive a 46” Sony Bravia LCD HDTV, and the other randomly selected winner would get a $250 VISA® gift card! The TV Membership Drive was a huge success! PPL GOLD Credit Union randomly selected two entries on December 1. The first entry selected was Stephen Bonsall, and he won the 46” Sony Bravia LCD HDTV. The second entry selected was Jason Bartoli, and he won a $250 VISA® gift card. Thank you to all our members who participated in this promotion!
In closing, I’d like to thank all our members, employees, Board Members and volunteers for a great year in 2011! The year 2011 was very member-focused, and I along with PPL GOLD look forward to continuing our efforts in appreciating our members in the New Year.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
September 6, 2011
Dear Members,
I’d like to congratulate our 2011 Scholarships for Higher Education winners. You can read about their higher education pursuits on the front page. I wish all our members pursuing higher education in 2011-2012 much success in the upcoming academic year. Don’t forget to take PPL GOLD with you as you pack up for school. See below for helpful information on using your PPL GOLD accounts at college or visit our website for even more assistance.
I encourage all our members to take advantage of the many products and services we have available, both in our branches and online. Over the next few months, you will automatically be entered in a drawing to win a 46” HDTV when you open a new account, begin using a new product or service, refer a relative or apply for a loan. New members will also have the chance to win a VISA gift card up to $250.* See the back page for more exciting promotional details.
The past few months have been turbulent for financial markets and financial service companies across the globe, but we want to assure you that PPL GOLD Credit Union remains a safe, sound and secure financial institution. We continue to receive excellent reviews from state and federal regulators, and you can remain confident that your deposits continue to be federally insured to at least $250,000 by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. As a result of our strong position, we are able to continue to provide great rates on savings and loan products to meet the needs of our members. For documentation of our stability, visit our Financial Strength webpage on our website at WWW.PPLGOLD.ORG.
Our members—YOU—make the credit union successful and we want to thank you for being a part of PPL GOLD. We look forward to celebrating with you during our member appreciation event on September 29. See the bulletin board for event details and be sure to mark your calendars!
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
May16, 2011
Dear Members,
The winter months are behind us and we look forward to Spring and Summer when we have many member benefits blooming.
We’re happy to introduce a new series of financial literacy seminars where we can provide you with information and resources to help make informed decisions. Our first seminar is called Tech Talk and will present you with information about protecting your computer from viruses and using the internet safely. In an effort to reach our younger members, we will be hosting a College Fair where we can answer questions and sharpen skills that will be useful as they head off to college in the fall.
Over the last few months, you might have discovered some banks and other financial institutions charging even higher fees and surcharges for using their accounts. We’d like to use this discovery as an opportunity to remind you about the great benefits of a PPL GOLD account. Our products and services have little to no fees with the advantage of easy accessibility. We’re always keeping your best interest at heart by providing you with the products and services you need and want. I encourage you to research our offerings on our website or stop into one of our branches for more information.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
February 22, 2010
Dear Members,
We accomplished a lot last year. Between the new branch and administration building at 4703 Hamilton Blvd. and the year-end data processing system conversion to serve you better, we met our goal to provide you with inviting branch locations in which to conduct financial transactions in a more comfortable, efficient and effective way.
Our goal for 2011 is to continue to grow our skills with the new data processing system, and to grow the amount of interaction that our members have with us. We want you to think of us first when it comes to serving your financial needs. We want to bring convenience to our members’ lives and we attempt to do so by offering you electronic products that are available for you when you need them. Whether you use Internet Banking at 10:00 PM to transfer money, open a Share Certificate of Deposit before breakfast, or apply for a loan online, we want you to find interacting with us to be a positive experience that exceeds your expectations.
As the true owners of our credit union, we invite you to attend our Annual Meeting in February. We will recap the accomplishments of 2010 and provide an outlined vision for moving forward in 2011. We respect your feedback on the many changes that have occurred over the last year and we encourage you to provide us with your thoughts. We love hearing stories about how PPL GOLD has personally assisted and enriched our members’ lives—financial or otherwise. We also value your suggestions for improvements. Please share them with us and email your comments, photos and stories to mas@pplgold.org. Who better to spread the word about PPL GOLD than our members and owners—you!
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
November 16, 2010
The PPL GOLD family tree is growing. In October we expanded our membership eligibility to include Scott Cars, Inc. employees, retirees and their family members. We are excited to extend our many product and service offerings to our newest Select Employer Group (SEG). For a full update on our eligible filed of membership, click here. As we’ve referenced in previous communications, our latest focus has been on developing system improvements to enhance your credit union experience. Specifically, we are working toward a data processing system conversion that improves the way we interact with our members. You can find explicit details on our conversion and how it will affect you and your accounts with us by clicking here. I encourage you to read it and get a feel for the new enhancements that will be coming your way effective in January.
I’d like to thank Sharon Merkel, a PPL GOLD member, for contributing her time and talent to take the fantastic photographs of Paul, Dave and Bill, featured on the front page of our October/November/December newsletter. You can look forward to seeing more of Sharon's work in our branches and in future publications. I sincerely hope you’ll send us some of your own photos and stories about how we’ve helped your financial needs, as part of our Golden Moments Campaign. We’d love to have the pages of our future newsletters filled with pictures and anecdotes of your personal experiences with PPL GOLD.
To end with, I’d like to thank all our members, employees, Board Members and volunteers for a great year. We’ve undergone some big changes this year that have improved our branch facilities and ultimately our members’ experience interacting with us. I look forward to continuing this journey with you into the New Year.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
September 29, 2010
Dear Members,
You may have read the recent article in the Wall Street Journal with the headline “Credit Unions Bailed Out.” We found this article to be misleading in that it implies the credit union industry is in crisis. We wanted to take this opportunity to clear up any misconceptions or concerns you may have about this recent piece of news.
The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) recently took over three corporate credit unions. Corporate credit unions provide wholesale financial services such as investments, liquidity, payment processing services and other services to retail credit unions like PPL GOLD. While retail credit unions are restricted by law from purchasing riskier investments, corporate credit unions were able to purchase private label mortgage-backed securities. Some of these purchases have resulted in other than temporary losses. These losses have consumed all the capital of a handful of corporate credit unions. The NCUA has stepped in and taken action so these corporate credit unions can continue to support retail credit unions.
Headlines are implying that taxpayers are providing a bailout to the corporate credit unions affected by these risky investments, in an effort to replenish lost capital. In reality, the retail credit unions are providing the funds to replenish lost capital. The NCUA has the authority to borrow from the Central Liquidity Fund, an agent of the Federal Reserve, and they have exercised their legal right to borrow funds. These borrowed funds are being paid back by all credit unions in the United States. No taxpayer dollars are being used.
PPL GOLD will be participating in the repayment program, as corporate credit unions provide valuable services that assist in our everyday operations. This means that we will be making a financial payment into this program. We want to assure you that our assistance in this program will in no way have a negative impact on the financial strength of your credit union or on your accounts here at PPL GOLD.
For more information, please read our Frequently Asked Questions.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
September 27, 2010
Over the past couple of months, you’ve seen a lot of changes take place at your credit union. Most of these changes are due in large part to the growth we’ve been experiencing as we add new members to the PPL GOLD family.
In an effort to continue providing you with positive experiences that exceed your expectations, our latest focus is to develop system improvements that ultimately benefit your interaction with us. Over the next few months we’ll be communicating the specific changes that will enhance your credit union experience.
In other news, the $250,000 federal share insurance protection became permanent in July. A temporary increase from $100,000 to $250,000 was effective from October 2008 to December 2013. Due to the latest legislation changes, your member accounts at PPL GOLD are now permanently insured to at least $250,000 by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF). The NCUSIF is a federal insurance fund backed by the full faith and credit of the United States Government by the National Credit Union Administration.
Our strong financial stability is due to you, our dedicated and faithful members, and to our conservative operating philosophy and skillful management team. We thank you for our continued support and for allowing us to keep your best INTEREST at heart.
Sincerely,
Cheryl Bartholomew
President & CEO
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