Discover's U.S. Spending Monitor, a survey of U.S. consumer spending and spending intentions, has found that credit union members, on average, remain more optimistic about the economy and their own financial prospects than consumers as a whole.

In the survey that covered July 2012, 48% of credit union members rated the economy as “poor” compared with 62% who did so in July of 2011.

By comparison, 57% of non-credit union members surveyed rated this year's economy as “poor.” In a year-over-year comparison, credit union members who expect the economy to get “better” increased 13 percentage points in July 2012 to 33%, versus the same time period last year.

In addition, the number of credit union members expecting the economy to get worse declined eight percentage points to 49% in a year-over-year comparison from July 2011 to July 2012.

This compares with 56% of non-credit union respondents who expect the economy to get worse, which is four percentage points lower than a year ago, the card brand reported.