A Direct Line Blog

One of your roles as a director might be keeping your finger on the pulse of the economy. After all, if members are not borrowing, it’s difficult to make loans and keep the credit union healthy. Or, if consumers are borrowing, but not at your credit union, there might be lessons to learn there as well.

Each month, CUNA Mutual Group produces an excellent Economic Trends Report, which gives you a nice snapshot of what is going on with credit unions across the country. Here are a few nuggets from the June 2018 report on trends in April:

• Credit unions picked up 358,000 new memberships
• Loan and savings balances grew at a 10.7% and 5.4% (seasonally-adjusted annualized pace), respectively.
• Nominal consumer spending increased 0.6%
• Long-term interest rates increased 3 basis points
• Credit unions increased their loan portfolios by 1.1%
• Loan balances grew 10.7% (during the last 12 months), and
• Memberships are up 4.5% during the past year due to robust demand for credit, solid job growth, and credit unions having comparatively lower fees and loan interest rates.

In addition, information on the Montana economy can be found in a couple places — the Department of Commerce Census and Economic Information Center and the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana. Both provide reports and snapshots, as well as in-depth information, so you can find the information that best suits your attention span and interest level. Happy researching!