“We continue to see warning signs in loan performance, capital and earnings across the system and at specific institutions,” Harper said. “Growth of credit union lending remains slow, but it is especially anemic for automobile financing, long a staple product offered by federally insured credit unions.”

NCUA data showed auto loans stood at $487.2 billion on Sept. 30, down 3.5% from a year earlier and down 1.4% from June 30.

“The third quarter is typically a strong one for automobile lending, so the continued decline of this credit union loan product is disappointing,” he said.

NCUA data gathered from Callahan’s Peer Suite showed net income was $4.0 billion in the three months ending Sept. 30, or an annualized 0.69% of average assets. That ROA was up from 0.68% a year earlier and 0.71% in the second quarter.

The biggest reason was widening net interest margins. Net interest was 3.13% of average assets in the third quarter, up from 3.02% a year earlier and 3.07% in the second quarter.

NCUA data also showed:

• Fees have been more or less steady over the past year. They were 0.44% in the third quarter, down from 0.46% a year earlier, and up from 0.43% in the second quarter.
• Overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees have also been steady since the first quarter, when the NCUA first began reporting them for credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets. They were 0.17% of average assets in the third quarter, about the same as the two previous quarters.
• Other non-interest income was 0.71% in the third quarter, up from 0.64% a year earlier and 0.77% in the second quarter.
• Employee pay and benefits has been rising slowly this year. It was 1.56% in the third quarter, up from 1.51% a year earlier and 1.55% in the second quarter.
• Other overhead expenses have been steady. They were 1.44% in the third quarter, up from 1.42% a year earlier and down from 1.43% in the second quarter.
• Credit losses were higher than a year ago, but in the middle of the range over the last six quarters. They were 0.59% in the third quarter, up from 0.51% a year earlier and 0.58% in the second quarter.
• Net charge-offs were $3.1 billion in the three months ending Sept. 30, or an annualized 0.75% of average loans. That’s up from the net charge-off ratio of 0.60% a year earlier, but down from the previous three quarters. They peaked this year at 0.80% in the second quarter.
• The overall 60-day-plus delinquency rate was 0.91% on Sept. 30, up from 0.72% a year earlier and 0.84% on June 30.

The delinquency rate for first-lien mortgages was 0.69%, up 20 basis points from a year earlier, while the commercial loan delinquency rate has doubled in the last year to 90 basis points.

“Especially notable, credit card delinquencies again rose for the quarter and stood at 216 basis points overall,” Harper said. “That rate exceeds the credit card delinquency rate observed during the Great Recession.”

Contact Jim DuPlessis at [email protected].