More Portfolios Sold in Second Quarter as Cards do Better

PORTLAND, Ore. - More credit unions sold their portfolios in the second quarter of 2005 even as credit unions overall may have begun to see some results of better card management practices. According to NCUA data, analyzed by Asset Exchange, a leading card brokerage, approximately 17 credit unions larger than $1 million sold their credit card portfolios during the second quarter. These sales provided a combined volume of roughly $105 million and represented a 35% increase in portfolio sales over the second quarter of 2004. This as total card assets for portfolios over $1 million increased from $20.3 billion in June 2004 to $21.5 billion in June 2005. This is more than 3% growth in inflation-adjusted dollars and represents an uptick in what had been a fairly flat line for a while. Likewise total card assets for portfolios over $1 million increased as a percentage of total assets, increasing from 4.01% in June 2004 to 4.04% in June 2005 and the percentage of portfolios that grew more than the rate of inflation during the previous 12 months increased from 40% in June 2004 to 55% in June 2005. On the downside, credit union memberships still grew faster than credit unions' ability to issue cards, resulting in lower participation numbers. Participation fell from 19.1% in June 2004 to 18.2% in June 2005, the brokerage reported.