The story of credit union growth in credit cards became brighter Tuesday as the Fed showed strong, consistent gains in the final two months of 2022.
The Fed's G-19 Consumer Credit Report showed credit unions held $75.6 billion in credit card debt on Dec. 31, up 16.9% from a year earlier — the strongest 12-month gain for any month since December 1995's 17.2% gain. It grew 2.9% from Nov. 30, compared with average November-to-December gains of 2.0% from 2015 through 2021.
The Fed also revised upwards its estimate for the credit union balance in November. It now shows credit unions held $73.5 billion on Nov. 30, up 15.5% from a year earlier and up 2.8% from October.
In early January, the Fed reported credit unions held $72.6 billion in credit card debt on Nov. 30, up 14.3% from a year earlier and up 1.7% from October. Its November share, then showing 6.2%, is now raised to 6.3%.
Credit unions' share was 6.3% in December, unchanged from that 6.3% in November and up from 6.2% in December 2021.
Banks also did well in both months, but had no significant revision.
Banks held $1.1 trillion in credit card debt Dec. 31, up 15.3% from a year earlier and up 2.1% from November. Banks' share was 91.0% in December, unchanged from 91.0% in November and up from 90.6% in December 2021.
The nation's 10 largest credit unions held nearly half the movement's credit card debt and had a larger 12-month gain than other credit unions.
The Top 10 ended the year with $34.5 billion in credit card debt, up 20% from a year earlier. Other credit unions held $41.1 billion, up 14.4%.
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