How Credit Unions Can Pay Dividends When a member wants to borrow money to buy a car or house or other big items, they go to SOFCU for a loan. A loan is an amount of money given to the member for a certain amount of time. It will have to be paid back to SOFCU along with an extra amount of money. This extra amount of money is know as interest. The amount of interest asked from members is higher than the amount of dividends paid to the members. The money a credit union has left over after paying dividends to shareholders is the credit union's money to pay expenses**. The example below helps to explain how credit unions can pay you dividends and earn money, too. It's as simple as 1 - 2- 3 **Expenses are: salary to employees, supplies, etc. *The principle is the amount of the loan without the interest added. The examples above were calculated in simple interest.