# FIRST CHOICE
Ottawa, IL · NCUA charter 61471 · asset band <$50M · latest filing 2021-09 · stopped filing after 2021-09 (departed; for a credit union that is almost always a merger)
Share link (named URL with a preview card): https://getbookiq.com/cu/first-choice-61471

Who the members are: state charter, organized 1953. 1,466 members of 18,000 potential (8.1% of the field); checking penetration 62% (share draft accounts per 100 members); loans per 100 members 34.

**Verdict on the desk:** this could be *stressed*. Composite score 9 of 18 (one point per flag across 17 flags, capital below 7% counted twice).

## What the filing shows

| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Total assets | $13.2M |
| Members | 1,466 (-4.9% YoY) |
| Full-time staff | 4 |
| Net worth | $1.2M |
| Net worth ratio | 8.8% (p21 of band) |
| ROA (annualized) | -0.96% (p6 of band) |
| Total delinquency | 0.84% (p65 of band) |
| Net charge-offs (annualized) | 2.37% (p97 of band) |
| Loans / shares | 22% (p11 of band) |
| Cash / assets | 61.4% |
| Borrowings / assets | 0.00% |
| Net interest margin | 1.84% (p23 of band) |
| Operating expense / assets | 4.62% (p88 of band) |
| Vehicles % of loans | 60% (p51 of band) |
| Indirect vehicle % of vehicle (all-channel basis before 2022) | 11% |
| Third-party paper % of net worth | 15% (p94 of band) |
| Vehicle delinquency | 1.13% (p76 of band) |
| Vehicle NCO | 1.39% (p94 of band) |
| Repossessed % of vehicle book | 1.13% (p100 of band) |
| Real estate % of loans | 14% |
| Credit cards % of loans | 15% |
| Unsecured % of loans | 21% |
| Commercial % of net worth | 0% |
| Core shares % of member funds | 92% |
| Certificates % of member funds | 7% |
| Average share balance | $4,547 |
| Participations bought / yr | $0 |
| Participations sold / yr | $0 |
| Participations outstanding | – |
| Loans outstanding per 100 members | 34% |
| Loans granted per 100 members, annualized | 5% |
| Average loan balance | $5,304 |
| Loans granted, annualized | $457,784 |

## Flags firing in the latest filing

- **thin capital** (`cap_low`)
- **losing money** (`earn_negative`)
- **margin squeeze** (`earn_nim_squeeze`)
- **delinquency 2x band** (`aq_dq_high`)
- **charge-offs p90** (`aq_nco_high`)
- **repo signal** (`aq_repo`)
- **members leaving** (`shrink_members`)
- **loan book shrinking** (`shrink_loans`)
- **auto monoline** (`str_vehicle`)

## Warning timeline

| Quarter | Score | Flags that first fired | Flags that cleared |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016-03 | 1 | delinquency 2x band |  |
| 2016-06 | 2 | losing money |  |
| 2016-09 | 2 |  |  |
| 2016-12 | 3 | net worth falling, charge-offs p90 | delinquency 2x band |
| 2017-03 | 5 | delinquency 2x band, members leaving, loan book shrinking | charge-offs p90 |
| 2017-06 | 5 | auto monoline | net worth falling |
| 2017-09 | 3 |  | delinquency 2x band, loan book shrinking |
| 2017-12 | 5 | net worth falling, delinquency rising |  |
| 2018-03 | 4 |  | delinquency rising |
| 2018-06 | 3 |  | net worth falling |
| 2018-09 | 4 | delinquency rising |  |
| 2018-12 | 3 |  | delinquency rising |
| 2019-03 | 5 | net worth falling, assets shrinking |  |
| 2019-06 | 2 |  | members leaving, net worth falling, assets shrinking |
| 2019-09 | 1 |  | losing money |
| 2019-12 | 2 | delinquency rising |  |
| 2020-03 | 2 |  |  |
| 2020-06 | 5 | net worth falling, losing money, loan book shrinking |  |
| 2020-09 | 5 | members leaving | net worth falling |
| 2020-12 | 5 | margin squeeze | delinquency rising |
| 2021-03 | 5 | charge-offs p90 | losing money |
| 2021-06 | 6 | losing money, delinquency 2x band | margin squeeze |
| 2021-09 | 9 | thin capital, margin squeeze, repo signal |  |

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## How to verify

- Page: https://getbookiq.com/cu-intel/#cu=61471 (every cell opens its formula and NCUA account codes; the News tab is the same search)
- Latest row, JSON: https://getbookiq.com/cu-intel/data/summary.json · history: https://getbookiq.com/cu-intel/data/h/31.json (key "61471", columns cycle, assets, loans, shares, networth, nwr, roa, total_dq_pct, total_nco_pct, vehicle, veh_pct_loans, indirect, ind_pct_veh, ind_veh, ind_re, ind_comm, ind_other, ind_pct_loans, loans_n, granted_n_ytd, granted_ann, loan_pen, granted_pen, avg_loan_bal, loans_per_fte, veh_part, tp_pct_nw, veh_dq_pct, veh_nco_pct, repo_pct_veh, members_yoy, ltos, cash_pct, borrow_pct, nim_pct, opex_pct, risk_score, members, fte, cash_total, invest_sec, allowance_eff, int_income_ytd, int_exp_ytd, provision_eff_ytd, nonint_income_ytd, nonint_exp_ytd, net_income_ytd, n_flags, re_pct_loans, cc_pct_loans, comm_pct_loans, cert_pct_shares, core_pct_shares, part_buy_ann, part_sell_ann, pot_members, sh_draft_n, chk_pen, fom_pen, flags)
- Participation history: https://getbookiq.com/participation-desk/#cu=61471
- Field definitions: https://getbookiq.com/dictionary/#cu-ltos and the rest of the credit union dictionary
- Source: NCUA 5300 call report bulk files. Income fields are annualized by cycle month (Mar x4, Jun x2, Sep x4/3, Dec x1). Percentiles are within the asset band in the same quarter.

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Rendered 2026-09-10 from the desks' own data files. Full guide: https://getbookiq.com/guide