CUNA Releases August Economic Update

CUNA Chief Economist Mike Schenk

In the August 2022 CUNA Economic Update, Chief Economist Mike Schenk discusses credit union development in the first half of the year and how that compares to banks.  

Highlights from the most recent update include: 

• Unprecedented loan growth: Schenk projected credit union loan growth at 8%, but mid-year data shows loans grew over 10%.  
• ‘Eye-popping’ auto lending growth: Auto loans were up 12% in the first half of this year. This surpassed the previous 1994 record when auto loans were up 11.3%. 
• Consumer perceptions: Credit union members are over two times more likely than non-members to say they are 'very positive' they can get a low-cost loan at their credit union.   

The credit union impact 
“Data shows that credit unions are much more likely to be consultative, to sit down with their members and have deep meaningful conversations. Credit union members were two times more likely than non-members to say that they've had a personal interaction with somebody at their credit union to talk about their financial situation. A combination of decent pricing consumer-friendly pricing and those deep meaningful conversations mean that the credit union members are more resilient.” 
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“But when the year is done, there's no question about it, credit union loan growth is going to be substantially stronger than what we originally predicted and the impacts the social impacts, the consumer impacts, will be stronger than we originally anticipated.”— Mike Schenk  

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