Credit unions remain competitive in lending
by: Ashley Binder
For more than 30 years, the number one vehicle in America by sales is the Ford F-series line of trucks. More than three-quarters of a million were sold in 2014, continuing its reign as the top vehicle since 1981. The Toyota Camry, the first car on the 2014 list, ranked fourth overall with more than 428,000 new to the road. The top-selling SUV, the Honda CR-V, came in eighth among the most popular vehicles, according to automotive site Good Car Bad Car.
Since most Americans don’t hand over briefcases of cash when visiting their local dealership, consumers routinely require financing when purchasing their Rogues (#20 in 2014) or their Priuses (#34). Overall auto lending at credit unions is up more than 30 percent in recent years, a positive sign that CUs remain competitive in an evolving banking landscape.
In a recent article from Credit Union Times, 71 million consumers had an auto loan in the first quarter of 2015, the most since the recession and an increase of 1.2 million over the last quarter of 2014. The article cited data from TransUnion, the national consumer data collection company, which reported that among the nation’s largest cities, Atlanta (up by 5.9%) and Houston (up by 5.4%) experienced the largest increases in auto loans from the previous quarter.
Utilizing the Sageworks Bank Information platform, Sageworks recently examined how steadily auto lending at credit unions – specifically for new vehicles – grew in 2014.
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