Most of the car muscle came from used vehicles. Their loan balances rose 1.3% from April to May (also the best since May 2018, when they rose 1.6%).

New cars helped too by breaking a string of month-to-month declines in balances. They grew 0.8% from April to May, their best month-to-month gain since May 2020, when they grew 1.1%.

The month also showed other notable changes.

In a case of a negative being perhaps a positive, savings fell 0.5% from April to May, the first decline since December 2019 in the pre-COVID-19 era. Members began saving feverishly after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, which economists have said is usually a signal of a recession.

The drop in savings helped improve the loans-to-savings ratio. It was 69.5% as of May 31, up 92 basis points from April — the first month-to-month improvement since November 2020.

Real estate growth slowed from the record pace of 2020, but remained strong. Credit unions held $538.2 billion in first mortgages as of May 31, up 8.9% from a May 2020 and up 0.6% from April.

Among all lenders, the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest forecast showed first mortgage balances grew 4.8% in the 12 months ending March 31 and 5.2% for the second quarter.

With the improvements in car lending and the change in savings, have credit card balances ended their pandemic spiral? The answer will have to wait until 3 p.m. Thursday, when the Fed releases its G-19 Consumer Credit Report.

Meanwhile, CUNA's report also showed that the nation's 5,233 credit unions had 128.7 million members as of May 31, 3.5% more than a year earlier. The report also showed:

• Total loans grew 4.5% to $1.21 trillion as of May 31. A year earlier, from May 2019 to May 2020, loans rose 7.1%.
• Assets grew 14.5% to $2.03 trillion as of May 31. A year earlier, assets rose 14.7%.
• Savings grew 16.2% to $1.74 trillion as of May 31. A year earlier, savings rose 15%.
• Capital grew 7.3% to $199.3 billion as of May 31. A year earlier, capital rose 9.2%.
• Loans per member grew 1% to $9,419 as of May 31. A year earlier, it rose 3.6%.
• Savings per member grew 12.3% to $13,548 as of May 31. A year earlier, it rose 11.2%.
• Fixed-rate first mortgages rose 12% to $419.4 billion.
• Adjustable-rate first mortgages fell 0.6% to $118.8 billion.
• Second mortgages fell 13.5% to $29.1 billion.
• Home equity lines of credit fell 5.9% to $54.5 billion.