Almost 20 Percent of CU Industry Loans Were Indirect Loans

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) this week reported that at the end of the first quarter 2017 19.5 percent of all federally insured credit union loans were indirect loans.

As of the end of the first quarter of 2017, 1,901 federally insured credit unions had outstanding indirect loans, according to a NCUA spokesperson.

Credit unions reported $172.6 billion in outstanding indirect loans as of March 31, 2017 -- up almost 21 percent or $29.9 million from a year earlier.

In comparison, total loans outstanding grew by 10.6 percent over the same time period.

Since the end of 2012, indirect lending at credit unions has more than doubled. Outstanding indirect loans were $78.2 billion at the end of 2012. Almost 13.1 percent of all loans were indirect loans.

I suspect that indirect lending has played an important role in the membership growth at credit unions over the last couple of years.