The credit union auto lending portfolio has doubled in the past six years, from $177.7 billion in the third quarter of 2012 to $365.3 billion in the third quarter of 2018. 
Credit unions' market share in the three major loan categories – auto, mortgage, credit cards – all rose in the past year, and the financial cooperatives now claim more than one-fifth of all U.S. auto loans. 
The delinquency rate for new auto loans among America's credit unions is consistently one of the lowest rates of any loan product. 
More than one-fifth of all members now have auto loans at their credit unions, continuing a steady rise in penetration that began in 2012. 
Indirect loan balances grew 15.5% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2018, a 3.8 percentage point deceleration from the rate posted in the third quarter of 2017. 
The overall delinquency rate for auto loans at U.S. credit unions has remained steady over the past five years, alleviating fears of a potential auto bubble.
Source: Callahan's Peer-to-Peer Analytics
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
