Credit union loan growth remained in the gutter in October with only residential second mortgages, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and credit cards showing strong gains from a year earlier.
America’s Credit Unions (AmCU) reported that the total non-commercial loan balance Oct. 31 was 1.6% higher than a year earlier and up 0.2% from September, compared with an average September-to-October gain 0.6% from 2015 through 2024.
Credit union lending weakened considerably after the Fed began raising interest rates, and has continued to worsen since it began lowering rates. The average 12-month gain fell from 8.1% from January 2012 through December 2023 to 2.2% for January 2024 through September 2025. The 1.6% gain through October was an improvement from a 1.2% low in August.
Weakening car lending has been one of the major culprits. While October’s 0.3% gain from a year earlier was anemic, it marked the first month since April 2024 that credit unions showed a 12-month gain their auto loan portfolio.
However, auto loans fell 0.1% from September, compared with the 10-year average month-to-month gain of 0.6%.
Personal loans, which make up most of the rest of consumer term loans, also continued to falter.
Secured personal loans fell 1.5% from a year earlier and fell 0.2% from September, compared with the 10-year average gain of 0.4%. Unsecured personal loans rose 1.3% from a year earlier and rose 0.4% from September, compared with the 10-year average gain of 0.7%.
First mortgages also remain surprisingly weak. First mortgages fell 0.1% from a year earlier and rose 0.3% from September, compared with the 10-year average gain of 0.5%.
The results were also a slight improvement from August, when the balance was 0.3% below the year-ago level — the first 12-month drop since start of the dataset in July 2005.
The market is not good, but others are doing much better. The Mortgage Bankers Association estimates first-mortgage balances as of Sept. 30 were 2.6% higher than a year earlier. During the pandemic-era mortgage boom, balances peaked with a 14.7% gain through December 2021.
The strongest boost to credit union lending came from second liens.
Second mortgages rose 7.9% from a year earlier and rose 0.9% from September, compared with the 10-year average gain of 0.5%.
HELOCs rose 13.6% from a year earlier and rose 1.4% from September, compared with the 10-year average gain of 1.1%.
Credit cards also continued to perform above average
The Federal Reserve’s G-19 Consumer Credit Report released Dec. 5 showed credit unions held $87.4 billion in credit card debt on Oct. 31, up 4.2% from a year earlier and up 0.2% from September to October, compared with the 10-year average gain of 0.3%.
Credit unions’ share was 6.8% in October, up from 6.9% in September and 6.4% in October 2024. Banks’ share was 91.9% in October, unchanged from September and down from 92.2% in October 2024.
Banks held $1.2 trillion in credit card debt, down 2.8% from a year earlier and up 0.8% from September, while the 10-year average shows essentially no change from September to October.
AmCU’s monthly credit union lending estimates are pulled from Equifax data and do not include commercial loans, which now make up more than 10% of the movement’s portfolio. The values also differ from NCUA data because of different collection methods, but the monthly Equifax-based data provides glimpses of trends in the months between the NCUA’s quarterly reports.
Contact Jim DuPlessis at JDuPlessis@cutimes.com.
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