CU Auto Loan Balances See Worst Month Since Last December

Real estate and consumer lending continued rolling ahead in October, but cars went flat for credit unions, according to CUNA data.

CUNA’s Monthly Credit Union Estimates report showed credit unions held $403.3 billion in automotive loans on Oct. 31, up 4.3% from a year earlier, but unchanged from September. All other loans were $861 billion, up 7.2% from a year earlier and up 1.4% from the previous month.

October was the worst month for monthly auto loan balances since December 2020′s 0.4% over-the-month drop.

New car loans were $141.6 billion, down 2.4% from a year earlier and down 0.8% from the previous month — the second monthly drop in a row. One headwind for all lenders has been the scarcity of new cars because of the microchip shortage.

Used car loans have been a source of strength for credit unions, but October showed slowing gains. The balance was $261.7 billion on Oct. 31, up 8.4% from a year earlier. However, the gain from September was just 0.5%, compared with gains of 1.5% in August and 1% in September.

But credit cards showed a major rebound, partly reflecting the onset of the holiday shopping season.

The Fed’s G-19 Consumer Credit Report released Tuesday showed credit unions held $62.3 billion in credit card balances on Oct. 31, up 2.1% from a year earlier and up 1.2% from September.

October’s over-the-month gain compared with an average of 0.5% gains for the month from 2015 to 2019. However, it followed a weak 0.1% gain in September and October’s balance is still 4.6% lower than it was in February 2020, the month before lockdowns started with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The month’s strength in consumer lending was shared with unsecured consumer term loans. That balance was $56.6 billion on Oct. 31, up 4% from a year earlier and up 3% from September.

Real estate also remained strong.

First mortgages grew 9.5% to $565.1 billion from a year earlier — the strongest 12-month gain since April — and rose 1% from the previous month. Second liens fell 2.3% to $86 billion from a year earlier, and rose 1% from the previous month.

CUNA’s report showed the nation’s 4,990 credit unions had 130.7 million members, up 3.5% from a year earlier and up 0.2% from September. It also showed:

• Assets were $2.09 billion, up 13% from a year earlier, and rose 1.6% from the previous month.
• Savings were $1.8 billion, up 13.7% from a year earlier, and rose 1% from the previous month.
• Savings per member was $13.76 billion, up 9.8% from a year earlier, and up 0.8% from the previous month.
• Total loans were $1.26 trillion, up 6.3% from a year earlier, and rose 1% from the previous month.
• Loans per member were $9.67 billion, up 2.7% from a year earlier, and rose 0.8% from the previous month.
• The 60-day-plus delinquency rate was 0.49% as of Oct. 31, compared with 0.55% a year earlier and 0.46% a month earlier.