adminCredit Unions nationwide are on an upward trend, along with the economy, according to CUNA Mutual Group’s May 2016 Credit Union Trends Report, which tracks March 2016 data. During that month, credit unions picked-up 577,000 in new memberships, and loan and savings balances grew at a 12 percent and 7.6 percent seasonally-adjusted annualized pace, respectively. For that same period, the economy added 208,000 jobs, the unemployment rate rose to 5.0 percent, personal income rose 0.4 percent, and personal spending rose 0.2 percent.
Credit union loan balances rose 1.0 percent in March, faster than the 0.7 percent pace reported in March 2015, and 10.9 percent during the last 12 months. That’s despite March historically being the third weakest loan-growth month of the year, and CUs are expected to experience strong loan growth from April through September.
Another bright spot in the report’s sunny forecast points to credit union loan growth approaching its fastest pace in almost two decades. The seasonally-adjusted annualized loan growth reached 12 percent in March, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2000 when the stock market boom was reaching its apex.
Find more facts and figures from CUNA Mutual Group in the May report.
