Valley businesses gird for PFD

MAT-SU — Craig Pell still remembers the Sony Walkman he bought with his first Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend check, which he received as an eighth-grader nearly 30 years ago.

Nowadays, Pell manages Chimo Guns in Wasilla. He uses his PFD to pay bills and says his days of getting “something cool” with it are long past, but he enjoys watching people gaze longingly at the weapons Chimo sells.

“They come in a good three weeks before,” Pell said. “They say, ‘When dividends are in, I’m going to get that.’ People pretty much know what they’re going to do with their dividend before it gets there.”

Each eligible Alaskan man, woman and child this year will receive $1,281 PFD payouts; 88,379 of those people live in the Valley, according to U.S. Census statistics. The first 530,000 dividends will be paid Thursday via direct deposit into bank accounts; the state will mail out checks to another 85,000 applicants. Mat-Su’s economy will see an influx of approximately $113.2 million.

Valley banks and credit unions are ready for what is a traditionally hectic day.

“We send out a memo to all the employees — don’t call in sick,” said Al Strawn, chief executive officer of Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union. “We start with having employee meetings. It’s become more routine than it was in the early days. We have a better process.”

The credit union makes sure it has plenty of cash on hand, as well as bulked-up security. People often call to verify deposit of their PFDs, so extra employees work the phones.

“We generally buy pizza, bring food in,” Strawn said. “Last year, I actually cooked bacon and eggs for people. We try to make it a fun day.”

MVFCU employs 125 people in its eight community offices, with Wasilla’s branch receiving the most traffic on PFD day. Membership has risen from 27,947 in 2005 to 32,785 this year, with 90 percent of the members receiving direct deposit of PFDs. The number of people using MVFCU’s off-site banking services has risen as well. Now, approximately 60 percent of the members use the credit union’s home-banking service.

The rush begins when the driveups open at 9 a.m., continues when the lobbies open at 10 a.m. and then smooths out at around 11 a.m.

“In the early days before most people received direct deposit, it was very difficult,” Strawn said. “Now, there’s so many alternatives to coming to the credit union. People write checks, use a Visa check card, ATM. It’s very easy to avoid the crowd.”

The most challenging aspect of PFD Day, Strawn said, is a rush of bill collectors trying to levy individual accounts.

“The biggest stressful thing is if money’s been levied from their account, it can be very frustrating to the individual who may not be aware of the levy,” he said. “It can be pretty upsetting. Our employees do a good job calming them down.”

Sue Welton has managed the Palmer branch of First National Bank of Alaska for six years. Back then, she saw more lobby traffic on the day PFDs started flowing in.

“There were more people with checks waiting for them in the mail,” Welton said.

Most of the bank’s customers now receive direct-deposit service for their PFDs, she said. Welton also sees customers prior to PFD Day, seeking loans.

“That usually happens a month or two before and they want to repay them with their dividend,” she said. “If they have something in mind they want to purchase with their dividend, they ask if they can use it for collateral or repay the loan with their dividend. We can’t, because there’s no way of securing a dividend check. We can’t take their dividend as collateral.”

Chimo’s Pell says the store is more than happy to accommodate people seeking to make a big purchase with their PFD.

“The state of Alaska buys every Alaskan a gun every year,” Pell joked. “We sell a lot of guns that day, ammo. It’s not like the day Obama was elected, but it’s pretty busy.”