Another decline in credit unions’ auto loan portfolio dragged down total loan growth for November, and the rise in overall delinquency rates accelerated this fall, according to a report from America’s Credit Unions.
The trade group’s Monthly Credit Union Estimates released Thursday showed the 60-day-plus delinquency rate was 0.99% as of Nov. 30, compared with 0.80% a year earlier and 0.93% in October.
It also revised its delinquency rates upward by 2 basis points for August and by 3 bps for September and October. From November 2019 through October 2023 overall delinquency rates ranged from a low of 0.42% in March 2022 to 0.75% in October 2023.
Automobile lending continues to be a major problem area for credit unions. The balance of auto loans has fallen in eight of the nine months from March through November, except for a 0.4% gain in June 2024.
Moreover, each of new and used car balances has fallen in each of the last five months reported — July through November.
The trade group’s Monthly Credit Union Estimates showed total car loans fell 3.5% to $491.8 billion from a year ago and fell 0.3% from the previous month, compared with an average October-to-November gain of 0.5% from 2014 through 2023.
CU Times has reports from CUNA and America's Credit Unions going back to August 2013. Twelve-month growth rates for auto loans dipped to a low of 0.8% in June 2020 — near the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic — before rising to a peak of 20.2% in December 2022. November's 3.5% drop is a record for the 10-year span.
New car loans fell 6% to $168.4 billion from a year ago and fell 0.6% from the previous month, compared with an average November gain of 0.6%.
Used car loans fell 2.1% to $323.4 billion from a year ago and fell 0.1% from the previous month, compared with an average November gain of 0.4%.
Total loans were $1.67 trillion, up just 2.4% from a year ago and continuing the 10-year lows of September and October. The gain from October was 0.4%, compared with an average November gain of 0.6%.
Non-auto loans grew 5.1% to $1.18 trillion from a year ago led by second-lien residential mortgages. Home equity lines of credit and other second-liens grew 17.2% to $158.4 billion from a year ago and rose 2.5% from the previous month, compared with an average November gain of 0.3%.
Savings once again grew faster than loans, further reducing the loan-to-share ratio.
Savings were $2 trillion, up 5.3% from a year ago and rose 1% from October, compared with an average November gain of 0.3%. The loans-to-savings ratio was 83.4% as of Nov. 30, compared with 85.8% a year earlier and 83.9%, a month earlier.
The report also showed the following for the nation’s 4,661 credit unions:
- Unsecured consumer term loans grew 4.8% to $73.8 billion from a year ago and rose 2.4% from the previous month, compared with an average November gain of 0.9%.
- First-lien mortgages grew 4.7% to $611.8 billion from a year ago and rose 0.4% from the previous month, compared with an average November gain of 0.6%.
- Surplus funds were $599.4 billion, up 9.3% from a year ago and rose 1.7% from October, compared with an average November gain of 0%.
- Assets were $2.37 trillion, up 4.4% from a year ago and rose 0.4% from October, compared with an average November gain of 0.5%.
- Capital was $229.1 billion, up 13.1% from a year ago and rose 0.7% from October, compared with an average November gain of 0.9%.
- Borrowings and other liabilities were $140.5 billion, down 16% from a year ago and fell 7.1% from October.
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