Mortgage, Auto Loan Growth Strong at CUs

WASHINGTON-It is not a big surprise that new car loans and mortgages continue to lead the way in loan growth at credit unions. According to CUNA’s Monthly Credit Union Estimates for July, loans grew 1.4% or 6% year-to-date. New car loans jumped another 3% as they had in June. Second mortgages at credit unions were a close second for loan growth at 2.7%. Growth in home equity loans, unsecured personal loans, and other loans remained strong at 1.6%, 1.6%, and 1.2% respectively. At the same time, credit cards (1.0%), fixed-rate first mortgages (0.9%), and used auto loans (0.7%) also experienced growth. However, adjustable-rate first mortgages fell 0.1% in July, according to CUNA’s statistics. Savings at credit unions continued to show slow growth during the month. Savings balances were up just 0.2% in July; a year ago, it was 1%. Year-to-date growth plummeted from 5.1% in July 2004 to 2.1% this year. Growth occurred in certificates and Individual Retirement Accounts at 1.6% and 0.4%, respectively, while share drafts (1.1%), regular shares (0.5%) and money market accounts (0.2%) fell. Consequently, credit unions’ loan-to-share ratio rose from 76.4% in June to 77.4% in July, CUNA said. Delinquencies remained at record lows at 0.6%. Credit unions’ average capital-to-asset ratio was 11.1% in July.