Sliced, diced or chopped, the numbers for 2017 so far seem to show credit unions are making more auto loans than other lenders and maintaining healthier portfolios.

Experian's “State of the Automotive Finance Market” report released Thursday showed credit unions gaining share in the third quarter for both new and used car loans.

The report released Thursday provides more detail to the trend shown a month earlier in reports based on the Federal Reserve Bank's Consumer Credit report and CUNA Mutual Group's .

Experian's market share data includes leases, which accounted for 29% of deals in the third quarter.

Credit unions are a small, but growing player in the lease market, which accounted for 29% of all new vehicle transactions. For that reason, credit unions' share is lower than shown in loan-only measures.

The credit union share of the number of loan and lease deals was 21.1% in the third quarter, up from 19.6% a year earlier. Captives also gained: their share was 29.8% in the third quarter, up from 28.3% a year ago. Banks' share fell sharply to 32.9%, down from 35.1% a year ago. Finance companies and buy-here-pay-here lots also lost share.

For new cars, credit unions accounted for 13.1% of the loans and leases in the third quarter, up from 12% a year ago. For used cars, credit unions' share was 28.4%, up 2 percentage points from a year ago.

The data looks even better for credit unions when looking at portfolio values and excluding leases.

The Federal Reserve Board monthly Consumer Credit report includes estimates for the nation's total motor vehicle loan portfolio for every quarter-ending month. For the 12 months ending Sept. 30, total new and used car loans total car loans have risen 4.3% to $1.1 trillion among all U.S. lenders.

Data from CUNA Mutual Group shows credit unions held $335.4 billion in total car loans in September, up 13.7% from a year ago. This data, which excludes leases, shows credit unions' share was 30.3% in September 2017, up from 29.6% in June, 27.8% in September 2016 and 24.0% in September 2014.

Following a surge in U.S. borrowing in 2016's fourth quarter, the pace of consecutive quarter increases has been slower nationally. The third-quarter portfolio was up 1.4% from the previous quarter, which was a smaller gain than the June-to-September increase of 2.6% in 2016.

Credit union car loan increases seem to be at about last year's levels. Portfolios rose 3.9% from the previous quarter, slightly faster than the 3.6% June-to-September increase in 2016.

Credit unions also seem to be holding up better with delinquencies.

Experian found the value of auto loans that are 60 days or more delinquent has increased overall to 0.76% for new cars, up 4 basis points from a year ago. Credit unions, however, have seen 60-day delinquency rates fall by 1 basis point to 0.27%.

Among all lenders, the highest rate of 60-day delinquencies was 1.63% in Maryland. The others over 1% were in “red,” mostly southern states that voted for Donald Trump for president in 2016: Mississippi (1.37%), Louisiana (1.35%), New Mexico (1.04%), South Carolina (1.03%) and Georgia (1.02%).

States with 60-day delinquencies below 0.5% were mostly in the West. The blue states were Minnesota (0.35%), Washington (0.38%), Oregon (0.38%) and Vermont (0.48%). The red states were Utah (0.43%), Idaho (0.44%), South Dakota (0.46) and Wyoming (0.47%).

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Top 10 for Auto Loans

Credit Unions with the Largest Total Car Loan Portfolios as of Sept. 30, and the Change from a Year Earlier.

New Cars Used Cars Total Cars

Navy FCU $5.9 billion, +8.5% $6.8 billion, +12% $12.7 billion, +10.4%

Security Service FCU $2.6 billion, –4.5% $2.7 billion, –2% $5.3 billion, –3.2%

The Golden 1 CU $2.6 billion, +28.9% $1.9 billion, +26.4% $4.4 billion, +27.9%

Alaska USA FCU $2.1 billion, +14.1% $2.2 billion, +14% $4.3 billion, +14%

America First FCU $774.1 million, +24.8% $2.8 billion, +17.3% $3.6 billion, +18.8%

Pentagon FCU $1.8 billion, +29.4% $1.6 billion, +21.4% $3.4 billion, +25.5%

State Employees' CU $714.7 million, +23.7% $2.1 billion, +13.6% $2.8 billion, +16%

Mountain America FCU $1.1 billion, +16.5% $1.6 billion, +19.6% $2.8 billion, +18.3%

Randolph-Brooks FCU $1.1 billion, +15% $1.7 billion, +22.6% $2.7 billion, +19.6%

Suncoast CU, Tampa, Fla. $921.1 million, +11% $1.7 billion, +30.6% $2.6 billion, +23%

SOURCE: NCUA

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