Golden West Returns $7.3 Million in Capital Credits to Members
Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative is retiring and returning more in capital credits to members this year – $7.3 million total – and is distributing the funds in August, which is a month ahead of the normal time frame.
“This has been a challenging year for people due to the pandemic, and Golden West wants to help our customers during this difficult time,” said Golden West General Manager and CEO Denny Law.
Funds Coming Via Bill Credits & Checks
For the first time, retired capital credit payments of $150 or less have been applied as a credit on the Golden West bill for active member accounts. Retired capital credits have also been applied as a bill credit on all active accounts showing a past due balance. These bill credits will appear on the customer’s August statement, arriving on one of the usual monthly billing dates of August 1 or 10. Issuing payments as a bill credit gets funds to customers even quicker.
Payments greater than $150 going to active member accounts without a past due balance will still be issued as checks and sent to arrive in mailboxes around August 11. Checks will also be issued and sent at the same time for excess retired capital credits totaling more than $150 after past due balances have been paid in full. Payments going to closed accounts will be issued as checks, as well.
“Customers should watch their August statements and mailboxes for these payments,” Law said. “Golden West is proud to return more funds back to our members sooner this year.”
Returns Cover 2003, 2004 & 2019
All members of the Golden West Telecommunications Cooperative are owners in the company and therefore share in its margins or profits. The Board of Directors allocates a portion of these margins to members each year. The funds remain available to the cooperative as working capital until the board votes to retire and return the monies to the membership. This year the cooperative is retiring and returning capital credit allocations from 2003 and portions of 2004 and 2019.
In addition to distributing more retired capital credit funds sooner, Golden West also halted disconnects and waived late fees from mid-March through June in response to COVID-19. The cooperative also offered quality-of-life enhancements during this time. These included offering free internet speed upgrade options, providing several free cable channel previews and increasing the long-distance minutes included with bundled phone service to 300 minutes per month. The increase in long-distance minutes is now a permanent benefit for customers who bundle phone with another service.
