MADISON, Wis. — May's 1.8% membership gain was the strongestincrease since 2005 with 294,000 members joining credit unions.

According to CUNA Mutual Group's latest Credit Union TrendsReport, May's numbers bring total membership up to an estimated89.4 million, a gain of more than 1.1.million in the first fivemonths of 2007. CUNA Mutual is forecasting a “conservative” 1.2%annual growth of 89.7 million members by year end, said Dave Colby,chief economist at CUNA Mutual.

“While our estimates may be on the light side, we believe therun-off of indirect borrowers and usual seasonal patterns implieslittle or no growth in the second half of the year,” Colby said.“In 2005, roughly 97% of membership gains occurred in the firsthalf of the year, in 2006 about 73% of all gains had occurred bymidyear.”