Jeep, Teamster credit unions boost ratings

Metamora State Bank slips; Bank of Maumee ‘troubled’

Jeep Country Federal Credit Union, which recently received an "excellent" rating.

Two Toledo-area credit unions saw their financial profiles rise, and a northwest Ohio bank saw its profile dip in the latest quarterly ratings from a financial institutions rating service.

Jeep Country Federal Credit Union got a five-star “superior” designation and Toledo Teamsters Federal Credit Union got a three-star “adequate” designation in a first-quarter report from BauerFinancial Inc. of Coral Gables, Fla.

The credit unions previously had four-star and two-star ratings, respectively, from BauerFinancial, a leading bank research firm that rates banks and credit unions from zero to five stars based on the stability of their financial profile.

Elsewhere in northwest Ohio, Metamora State Bank of Metamora slipped from a three-and-a-half “good” rating to a three-star “adequate” designation.

Karen Dorway, BauerFinancial president, said Jeep Country has been at four stars for the last three quarters, “but before that they were a five-star credit union.”

Last year the credit union’s nonperforming loans inched up, causing its rating to slip from “superior” to “excellent.”

“They had some loans that caused their delinquency rate to get a little high, and now they’ve come back down again. But they’ve always been very well capitalized,” Ms. Dorway said.

A one-star rating is deemed “troubled,” and once again the Bank of Maumee, which has been plagued by a large delinquent loan portfolio generated by its parent company, Capitol Bancorp of Lansing, and not the local bank, remained the only bank in northwest Ohio with just one star. Bank of Maumee has actually improved its financial picture over the last year, but not enough to raise its rating.

In southeast Michigan, Monroe Bank & Trust Co. maintained its two-star “Problematic” rating. The bank has had a two-star rating for nearly three years because of problems with its nonperforming loan portfolio.

Overall in northwest Ohio, nine banks had five-star ratings, four had four-star ratings, three had three-and-a-half star ratings, and one, Bank of Maumee, had a one-star rating.

Among northwest Ohio credit unions, 28 had five-star ratings, 11 had four-star ratings, four had three-star ratings, and four credit unions don’t have enough assets to generate a rating.

In southeast Michigan, one bank had a five-star rating, one had a four-star rating, and Monroe Bank & Trust had its two-star rating. Among southeast Michigan credit unions, two had five-star ratings and two had four-star ratings.

Contact Jon Chavez at: jchavez@theblade.com or 419-724-6128.