Summer is well underway and credit union lending—like the weather—is heating up.

Credit union loan portfolios are up 2.7% through April and are on track to grow at a double-digit rate in 2016.

If that happens, it will be the first time in nearly 30 years that the movement recorded three consecutive years of double-digit gains in loans outstanding.

The driving force behind big credit union loan gains will almost certainly be automobile loans. Modest inflation pressures will keep market interest rates low through the end of 2017.

That, combined with continuing improvement in labor markets (more hiring and higher wage gains), will buoy consumer confidence and will keep auto sales—both new and used—chugging along for the foreseeable future.

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