Large CUs with the Highest Fee Income

While credit unions have a reputation of charging lower fees, some large credit unions are aggressively relying on fee income for their profits.

According to NCUA's Call Report instructions, fee income is defined as fees charged for services (i.e., overdraft fees, ATM fees, credit card fees, etc.).

At the end of 2012, One Nevada Credit Union reported the highest level of fee income as percent of its average assets at 3.72 percent for credit unions with at least $500 million in assets. Two other credit unions, Denali Alaskan and TwinStar, have fee income as a percent of average assets in excess of 3 percent.

In comparison, for all credit unions with at least $500 million in assets, the median fee income as a percent of average assets was 0.69 percent. Twenty-five percent of all large credit unions have fee income in excess of 0.99 percent of average assets.

The following table ranks the top 50 credit unions in fee income as a percent of average assets. Also, reported in the table is the fee income and the return on average asset for 2012.