Looking to build on momentum from 2013, Navy Federal CreditUnion is poised to grow both its auto and business lending programseven more this year.

Last May was a record month for the $55 billion credit union inVienna, Va., when it booked $753 million in consumerloan originations – the best month in the cooperative's80-year history. At the time, $2.3 billion of its record $3.1billion in consumer loan originations came from autoloans.

For all of 2013, Navy Federal had $8 billon in auto loans with60% of coming from used car financing and 40% from new, said JoePendergast, assistant vice president of consumer lending at thecredit union. Last year, auto loans were also up 18% over 2012'slending activity.

A very low rate environment coupled with fast decisions afterloan submittals has also helped to grow Navy Federal's auto loanportfolio, Pendergast noted. With 11 to 12 years being the averageage of vehicles on the road, many members are trading in theirolder vehicles, he added. Members are gravitating to trucks, SUVsand hybrid vehicles – a trend Pendergast expects to continue in2014. While the credit union offered a leasing program some timeago, the decision was made to shut it down because in the end, itwasn't in the best interest of the members and wasn't “memberfriendly,” he explained.

Navy Federal also earned a national ranking among some of thecountry's biggest banks in 2013. According to the Charlottesville,Va.-based data firm SNLFinancial, it, along with a handful of other credit unions,made the top 25 auto lender list ranked right next to competitorssuch as Ally Financial Inc. in Detroit, Wells Fargo & Co. inSan Francisco and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York.

This year, Navy Federal will continue to strive to make themember experience better when it comes to car financing, Pendergastsaid. Those efforts include offering the latest technologies toenhance online and mobile banking and getting the loan decisiontime down from 10 to 11 minutes to no more than eight minutes.

“We just don't want our competitors coming in and taking dealsaway from us,” Pendergast said.

Just as auto lending was on a roll in 2013, Navy Federal alsoexperienced growth in its business lending program, said JimSalmon, vice president of business services.

“Part of (the success) is the maturity of the program. We'reentering our 10th year in providing business services to members,”Salmon said. “My staff is getting more tenured and therelationships with business members are growing.”

Navy Federal has more than $250 million in business andcommercial loans, Salmon said. Its commercialparticipation loan program launched in July 2012 continuesto make strides by partnering with other credit unions.

Last year, business deposits were up 25% and loan originationsincreased by more than 50%. Salmon said the credit union will alsocontinue to build relationships with micro businesses – thoseentities that typically have one to three employees.

“It's a lot of work but it's very gratifying. A lot of thesesmaller businesses just want something very familiar,” Salmonsaid.

Even as banks step up their presence in the small businessbanking space after years of scaling back, Navy Federal said itwill continue to serve its business members.

“Banks are engaged. They are selecting certain aspects in themarket and going after them aggressively,” Salmon said. “Butsometimes, it's hard to break into those relationships. Memberswill come to us and say 'I heard from this guy, I've never seen himbefore. Can you do anything here?' And, then we take a look andsay, 'This is what we have to offer.'