The Filene Research Institute has published a report that profiles those credit unions that were able to grow their loan portfolios during the past few years.

In the report, Superior Consumer Lenders During the Great Recession, several common strengths emerged among the 12 credit unions featured. Among them: consistent underwriting, a focus on improving sales culture and an emphasis on refinancing.

According to Filene, the Great Recession turned the flow of U.S. consumer lending to a trickle, and the opportunities that remained required a lot of work.

Only 23 out of more than 2,200 U.S. credit unions larger than $50 million grew their new and used auto loan portfolios by more than 5% each year between 2008 and 2010, and only 11 of those also grew their credit card portfolios by 5%.

Filene said its researchers conducted qualitative interviews with 12 of the 23 credit unions, many of them hailing from the Midwest and Texas.

The lending report was supported by a grant from CUNA Mutual Group, according to Filene.