Credit Unions Rise in Home Loan Rankings

Nine credit unions were among the top 100 in processing home loan applications in 2023, up from seven in 2022, based on federal data released Thursday.

That number was the highest since at least 2019, when there were also seven credit unions in the top 100. It fell to five during the mortgage surge of 2020-21.

The data came from the national static Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) dataset for 2023 published by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC).

The CFPB, which houses the data, released 2023 data in the spring. For CU Times’ purposes, what was new was that the July data included a list of all the reporting banks, credit unions and other lenders and how many applications they received. Having a complete list allowed CU Times to rank the lenders by the number of applications, and to identify all credit unions in the list. The applications range from first mortgages to home equity lines of credit. Most are for home owners, but some are for business purposes.

This year’s dataset included 11.5 million applications, including 1.8 million from credit unions, or 14% of the total. Credit unions had 10% of the applications in 2019, but then fell to 9% in 2020 and 2021, before rising to 13% in 2022.

Credit unions had a smaller surge in applications than banks in 2020, but their declines since then have been milder.

Credit unions’ applications rose 30% from 2019 to 2020, then fell 32% from 2020 to 2023. Banks’ applications rose 47% from 2019 to 2020, then plunged 57% by 2023.

From the 2023 data released in March, CU Times analyzed three years of applications from 31 credit unions that were among the top 25 producers in 2021 or 2023. That included 555,219 loan applications just for 2023.

A news release from the CFPB and FFIEC said the number of reporting institutions increased by 14.6% from 4,460 in 2022 to 5,113 in 2023.

The 2023 data included information on 10 million home loan applications, a decrease from the 14.3 million reported in 2022. Among them, 7.7 million were closed-end mortgages and 2.1 million were home equity lines of credit or other open-end loans.

The news release said the 2023 data showed denial rates for Black or Hispanic applicants were more than twice those for non-Hispanic whites. The denial rates were 16.6% for African Americans, 12% for Hispanics and 5.8% for non-Hispanic White applicants.

The findings were similar to a CU Times analysis published in April that found a similar disparity in denial rates among 31 of the largest first-mortgage producers over the past three years.

A new CU Times analysis of HMDA data showed the 31 large mortgage producers had 566,219 applications in 2023, down from 716,504 in 2022. They originated 49% of their 248,142 first-mortgage applications, compared with 53% of its 372,380 applications in 2022. For second liens, they originated 55% of their 318,077 applications, down from 60% of their 344,113 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 35% to $60.33 billion in 2023.

Results for the nine credit unions among the top 100 of all lenders were:

• Navy Federal Credit Union of Vienna, Va. ($178 billion in assets, 13.6 million members as of March 31) had 173,415 applications in 2023, ranking No. 8, compared with No. 18 in 2023. It originated 40% of its 83,894 first-mortgage applications, compared with 45% of its 112,725 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 42% of its 89,521 applications, compared with 44% of its 56,279 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 21% to $14.83 billion in 2023.
• State Employees’ Credit Union of Raleigh, N.C. ($55.9 billion in assets, 2.8 million members) had 54,508 applications in 2023, ranking No. 40, compared with No. 44 in 2023. It originated 62% of its 29,257 first-mortgage applications, compared with 70% of its 43,490 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 63% of its 25,251 applications, compared with 66% of its 22,631 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 32% to $5.39 billion in 2023.
• Pentagon Federal Credit Union of Tysons, Va. ($34.4 billion in assets, 2.9 million members) had 34186 applications in 2023, ranking No. 50, compared with No. 47 in 2023. It originated 39% of its 17191 first-mortgage applications, compared with 41% of its 30,126 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 33% of its 16,995 applications, compared with 46% of its 30,223 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 57% to $3.03 billion in 2023.
• Mountain America Federal Credit Union of Salt Lake City, ($19.3 billion in assets, 1.2 million members) had 23,565 applications in 2023, ranking No. 70, compared with No. 65 in 2023. It originated 47% of its 6,503 first-mortgage applications, compared with 49% of its 12,276 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 49% of its 17,062 applications, compared with 63% of its 24,825 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 50% to $1.89 billion in 2023.
• BECU of Tukwila, Wash. ($30.2 billion in assets, 1.5 million members) had 22,778 applications in 2023, ranking No. 74, compared with No. 72 in 2023. It originated 58% of its 7,128 first-mortgage applications, compared with 65% of its 9,958 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 64% of its 15,650 applications, compared with 68% of its 22,152 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 28% to $3.54 billion in 2023.
• America First Federal Credit Union of Riverdale, Utah ($20.3 billion in assets, 1.4 million members) had 22,394 applications in 2023, ranking No. 75, compared with No. 80 in 2023. It originated 58% of its 4,087 first-mortgage applications, compared with 58% of its 6,804 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 76% of its 18,307 applications, compared with 77% of its 21,715 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 31% to $1.81 billion in 2023.
• Summit Credit Union of Madison, Wis. ($7.2 billion in assets, 260,072 members) had 19,652 applications in 2023, ranking No. 86, compared with No. 105 in 2023. It originated 42% of its 9,106 first-mortgage applications, compared with 46% of its 11,709 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 83% of its 10,546 applications, compared with 80% of its 9,618 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 8% to $1.66 billion in 2023.
• Bethpage Federal Credit Union of Bethpage, N.Y., on Long Island ($13.1 billion in assets, 465,002 members) had 18,434 applications in 2023, ranking No. 91, compared with No. 106 in 2023. It originated 47% of its 4,418 first-mortgage applications, compared with 56% of its 7,133 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 37% of its 14,016 applications, compared with 46% of its 14,046 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 41% to $1.82 billion in 2023.

Alliant Credit Union of Chicago, which was among last year’s seven, dropped out of the top 100 this year.

Alliant ($20.1 billion in assets, 859,264 members) had 11,445 applications in 2023, ranking No. 136, compared with the 24,223 applications that ranked it No. 91 in 2023. It originated 42% of its 1,500 first-mortgage applications, compared with 24% of its 5,329 applications in 2022. For second liens, it originated 51% of its 9,945 applications, compared with 38% of its 18,894 applications in 2022. Total originations fell 47% to $1.04 billion in 2023.