WASHINGTON — CUNA Chief Economist Bill Hampel pointed out that loan growth as of June was the weakest year-to-date it has been in the last five years while savings growth is the strongest in the last four years.

According to CUNA's Monthly Credit Union Estimates, loan growth for the year through June was just 2.93% and just 1% in June. Other mortgage loans lead the way in June with a 2.1% increase followed by fixed-rate mortgages at 2%, unsecured personal (1.9%), adjustable-rate mortgages (1.6%), home equity loans (1.4%), credit cards (1.1%) and used auto loans (0.9%). Other loans and new auto loans were down 0.8%, and 0.4%, respectively.

On the other hand, savings were up 4.67% through June 2007 compared to 2.80% for the same period last year. Overall, savings balances were up 0.7% for the month. Share drafts increased 1.1%. Individual retirement accounts (0.9%), regular shares (0.8%), money market accounts (0.8%), and certificates (0.4%) also experienced an increase in June.

The credit union loan-to-share ratio nudged upward from 80.7% to 81.0% in June. Capital fell slightly from 11.4% in May to 11.3% in June while asset quality remained low and held steady at 0.7% for the past 3 months.