WASHINGTON — CUNA Chief Economist Bill Hampel pointed out thatloan growth as of June was the weakest year-to-date it has been inthe last five years while savings growth is the strongest in thelast four years.

According to CUNA's Monthly Credit Union Estimates, loan growthfor the year through June was just 2.93% and just 1% in June. Othermortgage loans lead the way in June with a 2.1% increase followedby fixed-rate mortgages at 2%, unsecured personal (1.9%),adjustable-rate mortgages (1.6%), home equity loans (1.4%), creditcards (1.1%) and used auto loans (0.9%). Other loans and new autoloans were down 0.8%, and 0.4%, respectively.

On the other hand, savings were up 4.67% through June 2007compared to 2.80% for the same period last year. Overall, savingsbalances were up 0.7% for the month. Share drafts increased 1.1%.Individual retirement accounts (0.9%), regular shares (0.8%), moneymarket accounts (0.8%), and certificates (0.4%) also experienced anincrease in June.

The credit union loan-to-share ratio nudged upward from 80.7% to81.0% in June. Capital fell slightly from 11.4% in May to 11.3% inJune while asset quality remained low and held steady at 0.7% forthe past 3 months.