PORTLAND, Ore. - More credit unions sold their portfolios in thesecond quarter of 2005 even as credit unions overall may have begunto see some results of better card management practices. Accordingto NCUA data, analyzed by Asset Exchange, a leading card brokerage,approximately 17 credit unions larger than $1 million sold theircredit card portfolios during the second quarter. These salesprovided a combined volume of roughly $105 million and representeda 35% increase in portfolio sales over the second quarter of 2004.This as total card assets for portfolios over $1 million increasedfrom $20.3 billion in June 2004 to $21.5 billion in June 2005. Thisis more than 3% growth in inflation-adjusted dollars and representsan uptick in what had been a fairly flat line for a while. Likewisetotal card assets for portfolios over $1 million increased as apercentage of total assets, increasing from 4.01% in June 2004 to4.04% in June 2005 and the percentage of portfolios that grew morethan the rate of inflation during the previous 12 months increasedfrom 40% in June 2004 to 55% in June 2005. On the downside, creditunion memberships still grew faster than credit unions' ability toissue cards, resulting in lower participation numbers.Participation fell from 19.1% in June 2004 to 18.2% in June 2005,the brokerage reported.