ROM: A Member Value Framework for Credit Unions

Callahan's Return Of The Member Index

Credit unions track many financial indicators to ensure a safe and sustainable institution. Metrics like growth, margins, returns, and net worth matter. At the same time, it is important to remember that members are not numbers. They are the purpose.

The Return of the Member Index (ROM) helps bring this purpose back into focus. ROM uses data from the quarterly 5300 Call Report to evaluate the value a member receives from their credit union compared to relevant peers. It offers a holistic view of member benefits across three areas of operations.

Quick Navigation

What ROM Measures and How It's Calculated

How To Find and Understand Your Score

Ways To Apply ROM in Strategy and Member Engagement

What ROM Measures

ROM looks at a credit union's value relative to your chosen comparison set. The score is calculated based on 18 metrics across three categories:

Return to Savers

These metrics describe how well you reward members for saving with you.

Dividends/Income
Average Dividend Paid
Growth in Average Share Balance
3-Year Share Growth
Number of Share Accounts per Member

Return to Borrowers

These metrics capture how much value borrowers receive through affordable credit.

(Loans + Servicing Portfolio - Purchased Participations)/Shares
Yield on Average Loans
Loans Per Member
3-Year Loan Growth
YTD Loan Originations per Member
Growth in Average Consumer & RE Loan Balance

Member Service Usage

These metrics show how deeply members engage with your services.

Share Draft Penetration
Auto Loan Penetration
Credit Card Penetration
1st Mortgage Penetration
3-Year Member Growth
Fee Income per Member
Total Income per Salaries & Benefits

How ROM Is Calculated

Each metric is compared to your selected relevant peer credit unions. Your performance on each measure is converted into a percentile score. Scores are then weighted and combined to create a final ROM percentile ranking.

A score of 100 means your credit union is a leader against your selected peers in returning value to members. The higher the score, the more benefit members receive relative to peers.

How To Find My Credit Union's ROM Score

Peer Suite provides a simple way to view, analyze, and apply your ROM score.

Start by selecting a relevant peer group.

Your ROM score will be calculated using all components of that comparison set.

Go to the Scoring Systems folder inside the Premium Displays section.

This is where all ROM resources live.

Open the ROM Leader Table.

Here you can view your overall ROM score and percentile ranking against your chosen peers.

Explore the Return of the Member Scorecard.

This display shows the underlying metrics that make up your ROM score, so you can see where you excel and where opportunities exist.

For trend analysis, visit the ROM Trends folder.

These displays help you understand how your performance has shifted over time.

Need an at-a-glance view for presentations or board packets?

The Member Value Dashboards in the Express Dashboards section pair each ROM category metric with ratio definitions, performance analysis, and a star ranking to simplify your review.

These tools work together to highlight strengths, uncover opportunities, and give you insights that can support meaningful strategic discussions.

What Does A High Score Mean?

A high ROM score (close to or near 100%) means your credit union provides strong value to members compared with your peers. This often reflects a people-first approach and an engaged membership that uses your products and services more fully.

Some ROM measures may run counter to short-term earnings, such as lower loan yields. Even so, many credit unions achieve both strong ROM scores and healthy financials by fostering deeper member relationships.

How to Improve Your ROM Score

Use the Return of the Member display to explore each component category. The layout makes it easy to spot where your credit union is excelling and where targeted action could raise your score.

Examples of potential improvement areas might include:

Increasing product penetration
Strengthening savings value
Enhancing loan availability or affordability
Growing member engagement

Using ROM in Strategic Planning

Yes, ROM is a valuable supplement to traditional planning metrics. It gives leadership a way to quantify member impact rather than relying solely on earnings-based measures.

While ROM should not be the only decision-making tool, it helps ensure your strategic plan balances financial strength with member benefits. A credit union that returns all net worth to members in one year might have a high ROM score, but it would not be sustainable. ROM is most powerful when used alongside financial metrics to support long-term member well-being.

Using ROM in Marketing and Storytelling

Yes, you can use ROM in your marketing. It is one of the clearest ways to demonstrate the cooperative advantage. When credit unions provide strong value, that is a story worth sharing.

Highlighting ROM performance helps educate the public on how credit unions differ from banks and how member-owners directly benefit.

The ROM Index offers leadership a simple way to quantify member benefits and align them with long-term financial strength. By pairing ROM with your existing planning and performance tools, your team can make decisions that honor both stewardship and cooperative purpose. Member value is a strategic advantage, and ROM helps ensure it remains visible, measurable, and actionable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is The Difference Between Historical ROM Display And The Leader Tables?

Historical ROM Display: Captures the appropriate pre-calculated asset group (determined by the NCUA) to track how a credit union has performed in this space over time.
ROM Leader Table and other ROM displays: compares a credit union's ROM scores against those in their chosen peer group/comparison set.

Why does my ROM score differ between two displays in Peer Suite?

Some ROM scores are designed to use a “locked in” ROM score, which is based on the primary credit union’s NCUA asset-based peer group. This score uses the defined fact "SavedROM" (seen below) and is fixed for a credit union, no matter your comparison set. This is the "defined fact" used in Historical ROM displays.

Other ROM displays are designed to be customizable to your own custom peer groups. These displays contain formulas like ROM2pct (seen below). This is what you'll see reflected in the ROM Leader Table Display.

If you would like help exploring your ROM score or its components, connect with your Callahan account manager for guidance.