WASHINGTON – Callahan & Associates released the 2002 edition of Credit Union Financial Yearbooks, and the return of member (ROM) data show strong gains in each of the three asset classes tracked – $50-$100 million, $100-$250 million, and over $250 million – for average share balance and amount of loans granted per member. The most striking increase was in Amount of Loans Granted Per Member in credit unions with more than $250 million in assets. Compared to an average increase of 16% for CUs in the lower two assets categories, credit unions with more than $250 million in assets increased more than 40% in this category over the past five years. Average Share Balance went up an average of 23.7% in each of the three assets groups. Overall, Eastman Credit Union, Kingport, Tenn., Burbank City Employees FCU in Burbank, Calif.; and P.C.M. Employees CU, Green Bay, Wis. had the best ROM scores among credit union in their respective assets groups – ECU scored 98.65 in assets group over $250 million in assets; BCEFCU scored 97.55 for those between $100 and $150 million in assets; and P.C.M. scored 99.27 for CUs between $50 and $100 million in assets. The ROM rankings take into account savings, lending and product use. They gauge a CU's performance in three main areas: Return to the Savers, Return to the Borrowers, and Member Service Usage. Performance in all three areas goes towards each credit union's overall scores. ROM rankings are updated quarterly and published in Callahan's Quarterly Research and Data Report. Here's how the top five ranking CUs in each assets group stack up: