Credit unions have traditionally had lower credit card delinquency rates than the card industry overall. But in these troubled economic times, the delinquency rates at credit unions are also rising, although they are still far lower than industry averages.
This graph, based on NCUA data and prepared by Asset Exchange, compares the credit union card delinquencies in the four most economically troubled states of Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada with those of credit union card issuers nationwide.
The data show that troubled states had delinquencies trailing the national average until mid-2007, at which point their delinquencies began climbing first and increases became widespread in mid-2008.
But one sign of hope is that the rate of increase in delinquencies appears to be slowing in both troubled states and nationwide.
Dollar-weighted average delinquencies (equal to the rate for all card portfolios combined) have increased faster than the median, particularly in the troubled states. This suggests that increases are somewhat focused at larger credit unions, and particularly in troubled states, Asset Exchange noted.
—dmorrison@cutimes.com