Half of CUs Reported a Y-o-Y Drop in Membership

The National Credit Union Administration reported on September 11 that almost half of all federally insured credit unions had fewer members at the end of the second quarter of 2019 compared to a year ago.

Credit unions that are experiencing a decline in their membership tend to be smaller. Approximately 70 percent of credit unions reporting an annual decline in membership had less than $50 million in assets.

In 18 states, the median membership growth rate was negative. At the median, 3 states had the weakest membership growth rates of negative 1.3 percent -- Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Other states reporting negative median year-over-year growth rates are North Dakota (-0.9%), Connecticut (-0.8%), Arkansas (-0.5%), Rhodes Island (-0.5%), Massachusetts (-0.4%), Oklahoma (-0.4%), Indiana (-0.3%), Kentucky (-0.3%), Maryland (-0.3%), Michigan (-0.3%), Nebraska (-0.3%), District of Columbia (-0.3%), New York (-0.2%), Vermont (-0.2%), and Louisiana (-0.1%).

In addition, credit unions in Arkansas and New Jersey reported that the median year-over-year growth rate of loans and shares (deposits) were negative.