Our Credit Union Trends Report for May 2018 is now available online. The report covers data from March 2018 and includes details on credit union memberships, loans, savings and more. Highlights include the following:
- During March, credit unions picked-up 423,000 in new memberships, and loan and savings balances grew at a 12.5 percent and 5.7 percent seasonally-adjusted annualized pace, respectively.
- Firms hired 135,000 workers, nominal consumer spending rose 0.4 percent and long-term interest rates decreased 2 basis points. Real GDP growth was 2.3 percent in the first quarter due to a surge in business investment spending and strong consumer spending.
- At the end of March, CUNA’s monthly estimates reported 5,727 credit unions in operation, 30 fewer than one month earlier. Year-over-year, the number of credit unions declined by 246, more than the 222 lost in the 12 months ending in March 2017.
- Total credit union assets rose 2.2 percent in March, faster than the 1.4 percent gain reported in March of 2017. Assets rose 7.1 percent during the past year due to a 5.9 percent increase in deposits, 36 percent increase in borrowings and 7 percent increase in capital.
- The nation’s credit unions increased their loan portfolios by 1.1 percent in March, faster than the 0.9 percent pace reported in March 2017. Loan balances are up 10.6 percent during the last 12 months. With loan balances growing faster than savings, credit union liquidity is tightening as the credit union average loan-to-savings ratio reached 81.5 percent, up from 78.0 percent in March 2017.
- Credit union memberships rose 0.37 percent in March, down from the 0.45 percent gain reported in March 2017. Memberships are up 4.6 percent during the past year due to robust demand for credit, solid job growth and credit unions having comparatively lower fees and loan interest rates.
- Credit union loan delinquency rates rose to 0.84 percent in March, above the 0.75 percent natural long-run rate, from 0.68 percent in March 2017. The loan delinquency rate hits its nadir in March due to tax refunds and bonuses allowing some members to catch up on late loan payments.
