Data from Callahan & Associates' Peer-to-Peer Software show that some of the highest 2011 growth rates for auto lending among credit unions were at small credit unions doing only direct lending. Meanwhile, lending slowed at some of the largest institutions. (These infographic tables also were in the Aug. 17 print edition of Credit Union Times.)

Of all the peer groups looked at, the $50 million and under set had the most amount of credit unions with no indirect loans. Three of those CUs had the highest year-over-year growth.

Despite having a little over $4 million in its new auto loan portfolio, the $142 million Citizens Community Credit Union in Fort Dodge, Iowa, topped the list for its peer group. The $111 million Western Sun Credit Union in Broken Arrow, Okla. also had a big gap between its new and used auto loan portfolios.

Seven of the credit unions here had more in their indirect loan portfolios than their used loan portfolios. The $450 million Denali Alaskan Credit Union in Anchorage, Alaska and the $488 million Neighbors Federal Credit Union in Baton Rouge, La., were the only two that had triple digit dollar amounts in their used, new and indirect loan portfolios.

Mirroring a trend seen nationwide, the top credit unions in this category experienced more success within their used vehicle lending portfolios. The exception was the $855 million Kitsap Credit Union in Bremerton, Wash., which had more than four times the amount in its new auto loan portfolio compared to its used auto loan portfolio.

While billion-dollar credit unions had strong auto lending portfolios as of March 31, year over year, several of them were in the red with total loan growth. Among them was the $9.6 billion BECU in Tukwila, Wash., which topped the list at negative 18.28%.