Top 10 Credit Unions: Earnings Still Improving

The nation’s largest credit unions increased their earnings in the third quarter on the strength of higher interest margins and despite higher costs and rising delinquencies, NCUA data showed.

The Top 10’s net income was $947.4 million for the three months ending Sept. 30, or an annualized 0.88% of their average assets. That’s up from 0.63% a year earlier and 0.81% in the second quarter.

CU Times analyzes the results for the 10 largest credit unions by assets each quarter to get a quick gauge of trends emerging as the NCUA posts Call Reports. They tend to have higher ROA, but other credit unions are usually sharing the same trends.

A balance sheet trend for all credit unions in the past year applied again to the Top 10: Loans grew fastest for home equity lines of credit, personal loans and credit cards, while first mortgages and car loans barely grew.

Loan quality measures were mixed with delinquencies up, but net charge-off rates easing from the second quarter.

The 60-day-plus delinquency rate was 1.48% on Sept. 30, up from 1.21% a year earlier and up from 1.35% three months earlier.

The net charge-off rate was 1.52% in the third quarter, up from 1.35% from a year earlier but down from 1.69% in the second quarter.

The only credit union to show a significant drop in earnings was PenFed Credit Union. Provisions increased for most, but a 10% drop from Navy Federal Credit Union evened out the pool.

The lineup was the same as the previous quarter:

1. Navy Federal Credit Union, Vienna, Va. ($180.8 billion, 14 million members), which had ROA of 1.1% in the third quarter, compared with 0.59% a year earlier and 1.26% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 1.67%, up from 1.44% a year earlier and up from 1.56% three months earlier.

2. State Employees’ Credit Union, Raleigh, N.C. ($57.2 billion, 2.8 million members), which had ROA of 0.43% in the third quarter, compared with 0.69% a year earlier and 0.17% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 2.52%, up from 1.95% a year earlier and up from 2.11% three months earlier.

3. PenFed Credit Union, Tysons, Va. ($32.7 billion, 2.8 million members), which had ROA of 0.16% in the third quarter, compared with 0.57% a year earlier and 0.26% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 1.80%, up from 1.52% a year earlier and down from 1.83% three months earlier.

4. SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, Santa Ana, Calif. ($31.1 billion, 1.4 million members), which had ROA of 0.78% in the third quarter, compared with 0.60% a year earlier and 0.36% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 0.83%, up from 0.65% a year earlier and up from 0.74% three months earlier.

5. BECU, Tukwila, Wash. ($29.7 billion, 1.5 million members), which had ROA of 0.95% in the third quarter, compared with 0.24% a year earlier and 0.82% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 0.37%, up from 0.22% a year earlier and up from 0.30% three months earlier.

6. America First Federal Credit Union, Riverdale, Utah ($21.4 billion, 1.5 million members), which had ROA of 1.28% in the third quarter, compared with 1.25% a year earlier and 0.94% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 1.17%, up from 0.92% a year earlier and up from 1.04% three months earlier.

7. Alliant Credit Union, Chicago ($20.3 billion, 889,485 members), which had ROA of 0.68% in the third quarter, compared with 0.58% a year earlier and 0.55% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 0.92%, up from 0.77% a year earlier and up from 0.87% three months earlier.

8. Mountain America Federal Credit Union, Salt Lake City ($20.3 billion, 1.3 million members), which had ROA of 1.34% in the third quarter, compared with 1.13% a year earlier and 0.86% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 1.25%, up from 0.97% a year earlier and up from 1.08% three months earlier.

9. Golden 1 Credit Union, Sacramento, Calif. ($19.6 billion, 1.1 million members), which had ROA of 0.53% in the third quarter, compared with 0.55% a year earlier and 0.53% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 0.73%, up from 0.59% a year earlier and up from 0.72% three months earlier.

10. Suncoast Credit Union, Tampa, Fla. ($18.4 billion, 1.2 million members), which had ROA of 1.17% in the third quarter, compared with 0.60% a year earlier and 0.61% in the first quarter. Its delinquency rate was 0.79%, up from 0.43% a year earlier and up from 0.69% three months earlier.