American Southwest Credit Union
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 860148533
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Sierra Vista, AZ, USA
- Phone
- 5204591860
- Rating confidence
- Limited
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $21,243,166
- Expenses
- $17,638,577
- Assets
- $407,219,681
- Liabilities
- $368,247,448
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAY WILLIAMSON (PRESIDENT/CEO)
- DENNIS BRAD RICHARDSON (VICE PRESIDENT IT)
Highest reported compensation
- JAY WILLIAMSON (PRESIDENT/CEO): $289,034 total reported compensation
- LAUREN PADGETT (EXECUTIVE VP/CFO): $171,120 total reported compensation
- DENNIS BRAD RICHARDSON (VICE PRESIDENT IT): $150,830 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To provide quality financial products and services to credit union members.
What it reported doing in 2024
Ascu has successfully been in the indirect auto lending business for 18 years. However, due to encroaching out-of-state competition in the areas that the cu serves, ascu has turned its focus to a centralized lending model by concentrating on its existing membership. Cu sales specialists now sell all facets of a loan, including the refinancing of loans that its current membership may hold at other financial institutions. As a result, direct lending has now overtaken indirect lending volume as a major portion of the cu's balance sheet. The volume of vehicle loans (both direct and indirect) represents half of the entire loan portfolio. The greatest success of the program rests in the deep availability to our member-owners. These programs also benefit the consumer by providing an alternate lending source to dealer and bank financing. These consumers quickly find themselves credit union members who now have competitive rates of interest. Impeding competition, both locally and from nearby larger municipalities, has caused the credit union to focus on direct, centralized lending within its existing and potential membership base. While indirect auto lending remains a valuable service to all members, ascu is now concentrating on making direct loans through referrals, walk-in's, and direct mailings to targeted segments.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 76% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Cannot be determined from the filing. The filing does not provide enough consistent spending detail to tell whether the nonprofit works directly or through others.
The verdict
- The available evidence is not sufficient to produce an overall rating for this filing. This is not a warning sign.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: NotEnoughData
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 72
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: Limited
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 17%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 23.09; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.9; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.6%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.4% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: Financial trends and filed revenue, expense, asset, and liability detail
- Governance: 8 of 8 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments
- Leadership: top reported pay $289K · 15 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 11 of 11 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.