WASHINGTON--Generally slow loan growth reflects consumer caution against a backdrop of stubbornly high inflation, still-high interest rates and modest declines in consumer confidence, America's Credit Unions noted in its January Monthly Credit Union Lending Estimates.
Other key points from the January data:
- Credit union loans outstanding increased by only 0.21% in January - nearly matching the previous month’s 0.22% gain and outpacing the 0.13% in January 2024. Over the past 20 years, typical credit union January loan growth (0.45%) is more than double the recent reading.
- Home equity lines of credit stood out in January, increasing 1.34%, while both second mortgages (1.04%) and credit cards (0.92%) continue to reflect strong monthly gains
- Year-over-year credit union loan growth also slowed, reflected in a 1.6% increase in total outstanding balances. That compares to a 12-month increase of 5.3% in the year ending January 2024 and a 15.4% increase in the year ending January 202
- On a year-over-year basis home equity lines of credit (16.6%), second mortgage loans (10.5%) and credit cards (7.2%) reflect the biggest annual gains
ACU noted that the monthly data is now available in a new format. Launched this month, the new evaluation tool provides month-over-month, year-to-date, and year-over-year loan growth data for U.S. credit unions. It also allows comparison of credit union data to other lenders, such as banking institutions, mortgage companies, credit card companies and auto financing companies.