Fed: Credit Unions Gain Share of Consumer Loans
But the report shows banks had faster growth in credit cards in January.
Credit unions lost ground to banks on credit cards, but gained share in other types of consumer loans in January, according to Fed data released Tuesday.
The Fed’s G-19 Consumer Credit Report showed credit unions held $629.6 billion in consumer debt on Jan. 31, up 17.9% from a year earlier. That gave credit unions 13.2% of total consumer debt, up from 12.1% a year earlier and unchanged from December.
Banks held $2.01 trillion in consumer debt on Jan. 31, up 11.2% from a year earlier. Banks’ share of total consumer credit was 42.1% in January, down from 42.5% in December and up from 40.8% in January 2022.
Those amounts included credit cards and other revolving debt.
Credit unions held $73.9 billion in credit card debt on Jan. 31, up 14.8% from a year earlier.
Balances typically decline early in the year after swelling in the holidays. However, the 2.2% drop from December to January at credit unions was much larger than the average December-to-January drop of 1.2% from 2016 through 2022.
The steeper drop wasn’t enough to affect credit unions’ share of credit cards. It stood at 6.3% on Jan. 31, unchanged from a year earlier and a month earlier.
Banks held $1.08 trillion in credit card debt on Jan. 31, up 16.9% from a year earlier. Banks’ share of credit card debt was 91.1% in January, up from 91.0% in December and 90.5% in January 2022.
The other part of the total was personal loans, car loans and other consumer term loans, or non-revolving debt. Auto loans have been a main driver of credit union balance sheets in the past year, and reports from the Fed, CUNA and Experian have been showing strong gains in market share.
Credit unions held $555.7 billion in non-revolving debt on Jan. 31, up 18.3% from a year earlier. Credit unions’ share of non-revolving loans was 15.4% in January, down slightly from 15.5% in December and up from 13.8% in January 2022.
Banks held $933.7 billion in non-revolving consumer debt on Jan. 31, up 5.3% from a year earlier. Banks’ share of non-revolving loans was 26.0% in January, down slightly from 26.1% in December and unchanged from January 2022.