In 1938, with the confidence of the people in their neighborhood, my parents Ben and Gerome Stefanski founded Third Federal. With the support of our customers, for more than 75 years we’ve remained focused on our mission to help people achieve the dream of homeownership and financial security, while creating value for our customers, our communities, our associates, and, more recently, our stockholders.
Now, we need your help again. We are seeking your vote of confidence as we ask you to vote FOR a proposal for our Mutual Holding Company (MHC) to waive cash dividends during the next year.
As you may recall, in 2007, Third Federal raised capital in a public stock offering. In that offering, we sold approximately 30 percent of our shares to our customers, and the remaining shares were retained by our MHC. As either a Third Federal depositor or a borrower as of January 17, 1996, with a loan that is still active, you are a voting member of our MHC. Our MHC structure adds to our strength and allows us to reinvest most of our profits in Third Federal so that we can offer you the best rates on deposits and loans.
As a member, your vote for the dividend waiver allows us to pay dividends to our public stockholders without also paying dividends to our MHC. Without your vote for the waiver, we will be required to pay more than $1 million in taxes on dividends that our MHC receives. If you are also a stockholder, voting for the waiver does not mean you are waiving the receipt of dividend payments, rather it means that the MHC is waiving the receipt of dividend payments.
We need a majority of the eligible votes of our members to approve the dividend waiver, so we truly need your vote. If you do not vote for the waiver, it will have the same effect as a "no" vote. Please be assured we appreciate your business and your continued confidence in Third Federal as you vote FOR the waiver.
Thank you for your consideration and support.
Bank Smart. Live Better
Marc. A Stefanski
Chairman and CEO
If you have questions about voting (or need a replacement proxy card), please call our customer service department at 1-855-527-3482, Monday through Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., EDT; Friday 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., EDT; Saturday 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., EDT.