After a tough spell, the signs now point north for South Carolina's credit unions.

Manufacturing, particularly in the automotive and constructionsector, has rebounded, and unemployment figures have declinedsignificantly over the last year, providing some much-needed loandemand and positive revenue for the Palmetto State's creditunions.

Statewide, South Carolina's credit unions earned return onaverage assets of 87 basis points as of Dec. 31, 2012, slightlyhigher than the 86 basis points national average. Annualized loangrowth of 4% as of 2012 year-end is slightly lower than the 4.6%national average. Membership growth as of Dec. 31 was also justslightly lower than peer, 2.1% versus 2.2% nationally.

That's not bad for a state where unemployment peaked at 12% inNovember 2009 and that currently ranks 42^th in thenation for median household income, according to the U.S. CensusBureau.

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One such credit union feeling the surge is the $64 millionGreenville Heritage Credit Union in Greenville, S.C., where bigemployers like BMW's auto assembly plant, Michelin and GeneralElectric have helped spur a recovery.

“South Carolina was crushed by the recession,” said Alan Berry,CEO of Greenville Heritage. “But with manufacturing coming back,the economy is improving each day.”

Greenville Heritage's ROA as of Dec. 31, 2012 is a veryimpressive 3.33% and Berry gives some of the credit to theconsultation of Brett Christensen, owner of CU Lending Advice.

“We follow Brett Christiansen's advice in that we reach out toCD-tiered members,” he said. “On top of that we're as plain vanillaas you can get and you can see that it's working for us.”

Greenville Heritage might be plain vanilla, but its annualizedloan growth of 25.34% as of Dec. 31 is anything but.

“Like I said, banks are turning away folks who were hurt in therecession, people who are in the 660-680 (FICO score) range,” Berrysaid. “That leaves a huge part of the population that we areopening up our doors to and saying, 'Come on in and give us ashot'.”

Delinquencies are low at 0.69% of total loans as of year-end.Pretty good, considering the credit union is targeting members withcomparatively low FICO scores, and the state's 8.4% unemploymentrate, which while improved, still ranks 39^thnationally.

“We don't say yes to everyone who comes in for a loan, but wetalk to the member and figure out if we can help them and do ourvery best to do just that,” Berry said. “I feel sad for some ofthese credit unions that are still struggling and don't see thatthese people want to get back on their feet. We're the ones who canhelp them while helping ourselves.”

“The state of South Carolina has followed closely the nationaltrend in unemployment rates,” said Meredith H. Siemens, vicepresident of corporate communications for the $1.3 billionSouth Carolina FCU.

“However, there are significant disparities among the countiesin South Carolina. The metropolitan areas have seensignificant improvement in unemployment rate with rates being afull percent below the national average. This is in contrastto the rural areas which are still seeing double digit rate ofunemployment. Additionally, the state has a very pro-businessclimate and has been successful in attracting new industry to ourstate,” Siemens said.

South Carolina FCU, located in North Charleston, reportedROAA of 0.58% as of Dec. 31 and a respectable 3.23% 12-monthloan growth. Driving income was an 83.52% loan-to-share ratio, muchhigher than peer, and robust fee income of 2.64% of average assets.Delinquencies have also improved, down to 0.71% of total loans asof Dec. 31, compared to 1.51% just one year earlier.

“The credit union was able to achieve these resultsthrough the combined efforts of all employees to grow our loanportfolio and to focus on efficiencies within their areas in orderto control our operating expenses,” Siemens said.

“Delinquency rates have continued to decline through solidunderwriting, aggressive collections and an overall improvingeconomy,” she said. “(Our) loss prevention department stressesearly collection on all accounts and uses technology to be highlyeffective in reaching our members.”

South Carolina Federal's positive numbers are reflected in thearea it serves. The local unemployment rate is 6.9%, due to thefact that the Charleston area continues to benefit from strongtourism and through an active chamber of commerce, attracting newbusinesses to the area such as Boeing's new 787 Dreamlinermanufacturing facility.

“We have continued to focus on developing tighter and deeperrelationships with our members,” Siemens said. “This past year wecompletely revamped our checking products to encourage our membersto be fully engaged with the credit union. Based on thesechanges we are rewarding the members that have a strongrelationship with higher certificate rates, lower loan rates andbenefits such as reward points on their debit cards.”

But South Carolinians know that it's going to take a lot morethan jumbo jets to turn around their state's economy.

A report, released Jan. 30 by the Corporation for EnterpriseDevelopment, points out that the 2013 Assets & OpportunitiesScorecard shows that nearly 47% of the residents of this state lackadequate savings to cover basic expenses for just three months ifthey suffer a loss of stable income. Additionally, the report foundthat South Carolina ranks 48th overall for the financial stabilityof its residents.

This resonates with GHCU's Berry.

“I know it's not like it used to be, but if you do the rightthings, you'll be rewarded,” he said. “We are actively seekingbusiness and we are helping people who were kicked out of banks,doing a great job of serving them and for us it's steady as shegoes.”