Credit card use among credit union members is definitely not going the way of the dinosaur, even if by one measure, it does chart like a stegosaurus.

That would be the path created by graphing the percentage of credit card loans as part of the overall credit union loan portfolio, or as we put it in analyst parlance: "Credit Card Loans Over Total Loans."

As you can see in our accompanying graph on page 10, the ups and downs do evoke that spikey-spine beast of the past, but the rises are much easier to explain in real life: They're from holiday spending. Each of those spikes are in the fourth quarter of that year. After the shopping spree, reality sets in and we see the credit card balances drop as tax return season sets in and people begin paying off that new debt.

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