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Auto lending weakened and mortgages gained strength in March for credit unions as savings grew at a below-average pace.

CUNA's Monthly Credit Union Estimates released Thursday showed credit unions held $1.56 trillion in loans on March 31, up 17.4% from a year earlier, and up 0.8% from February. The average February-to-March gain from 2016 through 2022 was 0.7%.

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Loans per member were $11,267, up 13.1% from a year earlier, and rose 0.6% from February, compared with an average March gain of 0.3%.

Savings were $1.91 trillion on March 31, up 1.7% from a year earlier, and up 1.6% from February, compared with an average March gain of 2.2%. Savings per member were $13,822, down 2% from a year earlier, and up 1.4% from February, compared with an average March gain of 1.7%.

Member savings are usually bolstered in March by tax refunds, but average refunds have been smaller this year.

The loan-to-savings ratio was 81.5% on March 31, up from 70.6% a year earlier, but down from 82.2% in February. The seven-year average was 77.1%.

Delinquency rates are up, but it's unclear if they are above normal or just rising from historic lows during the pandemic. The 60-day-plus delinquency rate was 0.65% as of March, compared with 0.42% a year earlier and 0.67%, a month earlier.

The seven-year average delinquency rate was 0.59% for March for 2016 through 2022, with rates topping out at 0.71% in 2016 and 0.74% in 2017. CUNA Mutual Economist Steven Rick said in a 2017 report that "the natural long-term rate" was 0.75%.

CUNA's report showed the nation's 4,891 credit unions (down five from February) had 138.4 million members March 31, up 3.7% from a year earlier, and rose 0.2% from February, compared with an average March gain of 0.4%.

Automobile lending grew from February to March at a rate below the seven-year average, while mortgage lending exceeded averages:

  • New car loans grew 20.6% to $177.8 billion from a year earlier, and fell 0.1% from February, compared with an average March gain of 0.4%.
  • Used car loans grew 16.8% to $322.8 billion from a year earlier, and rose 0.8% from February, compared with an average March gain of 1.1%.
  • First-lien mortgages grew 10% to $555.1 billion from a year earlier, and rose 0.8% from February, compared with an average March gain of 0.9%.
  • Second-lien mortgages grew 38.2% to $113.8 billion from a year earlier, and rose 2.2% from February, compared with an average March drop of 0.9%.
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Jim DuPlessis

Jim covers economic data trends emerging for credit unions, as well as branch news and dividends.