Looking at even the worst-performing member business lendingportfolios, credit unions still have low delinquency rates.

CU Business Group LLC discovered that after reviewing NCUA dataas of Dec. 31, 2010. At the end of last year, there were 2,136 CUswith MBLs on their books. The overall average percentage ofdelinquencies for all CUs was 5.55%.

Taking it another step, the Portland, Ore.-based CUSO found thatthe 659 of those CUs with $5 million or more in MBLs on their bookshad an average delinquency rate of 4.23%.

CUBG also discovered that 222 of these CUs had 0.0%delinquencies and 61 of them had between 0.01% and 0.49% indelinquencies.

According to CUBG President/CEO Larry Middleman, “if we remove the 10-worstperforming CUs, the average delinquency rate changes to 3.64%. Ifwe remove the 50 worst-performing CUs, the average becomes2.65%.”

“Credit unions look pristine when you look at the wholepicture,” Middleman told attendees Wednesday at CUBG’s National Business Services Conference in Portland, Ore.“It’s unfortunate that there were a few bad ones out there thathave tainted the industry.”

Since 2008, MBL activity has continued to grow. Middleman said578 CUs had more than $5 million in MBLs on their books. Thatfigure grew to 659 in 2010. In 2008, 124 CUs had more than $50million MBLs compared with 149 last year. In 2010, 71 CUs had morethan $100 million, up from 55 in 2008.

Looking ahead, Middleman said there will be more commercial realestate loan activity and increased competition especially frominsurance companies. To get more deals, he encouraged CUs to getvery specific when identifying their niche and the type of loansthat will work within those segments.

He also suggested acting fast on turnaround times, being asteady and consistent lender, market “no prepayment penalties” anduse selective broker relationships.