Cars & Cards Still Accelerating on the CU Highway

Credit unions continued to make gains over other lenders for credit cards, cars and other consumer loans in May, the Fed reported Monday.

The Fed’s G-19 Consumer Lending Report showed credit unions held $435 billion in consumer debt on May 31, up 8.3% from a year earlier. The change from April to May was 1.8%, compared with 0.8% a year earlier.

Credit unions’ share of total consumer credit was 11.3% in May, compared with 11.2% in April and 10.9% in May 2017.

Total consumer credit stood at $3.9 trillion on May 31, up 4.8% from a year earlier. The change from April to May was 0.8%, compared with 0.6% a year earlier.

Credit unions held $58.3 billion in credit card debt on May 31, up 9.6% from a year earlier. Credit unions’ gain from April to May was 2.1%, compared with 1.4% a year earlier.

Their share of credit card debt was 5.8% in May, unchanged from April and up from 5.6% in May 2017.

Credit unions held $376.7 billion in non-revolving consumer loans in May, up 8.2% from a year earlier. Typically for credit unions, more than 90% of these loans are for cars and other vehicles. For all lenders, vehicles account for about 40% of the loans, while private and government student loans account for most of the rest.

Credit unions increased their revolving loan balances by 1.8% from April to May, up from a 0.7% gain a year earlier, defying earlier predictions of a slowdown.

Nonetheless, year-over-year gains have been in the single digits this year. From March 2014 to December 2017 loan balances increased at double-digit rates from a year earlier, peaking with a 16.2% gain from February 2014 to February 2015.

But other lenders are braking more heavily, allowing credit unions’ share of non-revolving loans to rise to 13.2% in May, up from 13% in April and 12.8% in May 2017.

Next month’s report for June will include the Fed’s quarterly estimates for vehicle loans and student loans. It is scheduled for release Aug. 7.