WASHINGTON, D.C. – Wide acceptance of online mortgage applications was revealed in Callahan & Associates' latest survey of online credit union members. The survey found that 59% of refinancers said they would use an online application next time and 56% of home purchasers also said they would. The respondents were 28,720 online members of 17 credit unions across the country participating in Callahan's ongoing Online Survey Consortium. As rates hit historic lows, mortgage lending for the first time surpassed auto lending as the leading category in credit union lending portfolios. "Credit unions still have only a relatively small share of the mortgage market and during this period of high demand there is great interest in what credit unions need to do to capture more of this activity," said Scott Patterson, Callahan's e-commerce manager. Online lending is a particularly efficient channel that many credit unions are considering exploiting more aggressively. "Almost 40% of the online members report that they didn't consider their credit union or were unaware of their credit union's mortgage loan programs. This suggests a significant opportunity for growth in credit union mortgage loan penetration for existing members," Patterson said.