Month: March 2021

Yesterday, the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) and the Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin (BBB) warned businesses about solicitations designed to look like invoices arriving through postal mail and being reported to both DFI and BBB from “WI Certificate Service.”

The solicitation is designed to look like it is from the Secretary of State and requests payment of $72.50 for a “Certificate of Status.” The solicitation is not being sent by DFI, and the requested payment amount far exceeds the $10 fee DFI charges to obtain an official certificate of status online. The solicitation is not a valid invoice and businesses are advised to not pay it.

Buried within a paragraph on the mailing is the following sentence, which could easily be missed, “WI Certificate Service is not affiliated with any government or state agency and this is a solicitation for your business.” The address used by “WI Certificate Service” is actually a Madison UPS store and the toll-free phone number listed on the mailing is not a working number, according to BBB research.

These types of solicitations can mislead consumers into overpaying for documents that businesses can obtain from DFI directly,” said DFI Secretary Kathy Blumenfeld. “Carefully review all notices received and contact DFI with questions or to purchase an official certificate of status.”

Wisconsin’s state-chartered banks and credit unions both saw their combined net income increase double-digits in 2020, according to data from the state Department of Financial Institutions.

The state’s 135 state-chartered banks reported net income of $778.9 million last year, an increase of 17.2% from 2019. The 118 state-chartered credit unions increased net income by 18.1% to $506.1 million.

State-chartered banks ended 2020 with total assets of $63.8 billion, a growth rate of 13.3% and an increase of $7.5 billion from 2019. The banks had a return on average assets ratio of 1.34%, up from 1.25% in 2019.

State credit unions grew their total assets at a 20.6% rate to $49.5 billion, a jump of $8.5 bill. The return on average assets increased from 1.1% to 1.12%.

Banks saw delinquent loans as a percentage of total loans drop from 1.33% to 1.06%. At the same time, banks increased their allowance for loan losses from $532 million or 1.28% to $640 million or 1.45%.

Likewise, credit unions saw delinquent loans decrease from 0.7% to 0.56% but their allowance for loan losses increased from $199 million to $269.1 million.

The Department of Health Services (DHS) announced that new groups will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 1. The newly eligible groups, initially announced in January, include in priority order:

• education and child care staff;
• people enrolled in Medicaid long-term care programs;
• some public-facing essential workers;
• non-frontline essential health care personnel and;
• facility staff and residents in congregate living settings.

While these groups are eligible on March 1, educators and child care providers should anticipate receiving vaccine in March and early April, and the remaining groups can plan to be vaccinated in April and May.

Due to the limited supply of vaccine doses, people 65 and older, educators, and child care workers will be prioritized for the vaccine. Based on the current allocation numbers, it will take about two months to vaccinate these groups.

Groups eligible March 1 were recommended for the vaccine based on relative vulnerability and risk of exposure to COVID-19. This will add more than 700,000 people to the number able to get vaccinated.