MADISON, Wis. — An unusual, late-year surge of 367,000 members added in the fourth quarter last year brought the industry's numbers up to cap off 2007 with 89.7 million members.
That's according to the latest Credit Union Trends Report from CUNA Mutual Group. The gain is well above the trends over the past three years and 400,000 above CUNA Mutual's previous 2007 forecast, according to Dave Colby, chief economist at CUNA Mutual. Membership increased by 170,000 in December versus declines reported in three of the past four years.
While NCUA's data shows 37.4 million potential members were added in 2007 through field of membership expansions, Colby "there is redundancy in FOM expansions as-well-as in total membership estimates."
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"The economic uncertainty in 2008 and 2009 leads to fewer new members as households are reluctant to switch financial relations during an economic downturn," Colby said. "Further depressing our growth assumptions through 2010 will be credit unions aggressively culling low balance-inactive accounts to cut costs as margins are squeezed."
Colby estimates by 2010, membership will top 92 million.
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