Auto lending

Membership continues to rise across the Wolverine State, though at a slower pace, but lending overall is on the decline.

The agreement is expected to solidify a lending partnership whose status had been in doubt for more than a year. But it raised as many questions as it answered.

Credit unions reported gains in areas such as loan balances and membership but it was at a slower pace than a year earlier.

The first full day of America's Credit Union Conference in Orlando hit on a variety of topics, including narrowing the gender gap and ongoing attacks from banks.

The bank was accused of forcing borrowers to pay for insurance they did not need, pushing almost 250,000 of them into delinquency, according to a 2017 lawsuit.

Santander Bank and Santander Consumer USA have put many problems behind them in recent years under CEO Scott Powell, but he still has a Federal Reserve enforcement action to resolve and is negotiating with Fiat Chrysler to preserve a crucial auto lending relationship.

A look back at Credit Union Journal's May 2019 special report on auto lending.

The scandal-plagued bank announced Wednesday that it is adding a board member with deep experience in accounting. It is also considering a switch to flat pricing in indirect auto lending, a change long favored by consumer advocates.

Borrowers with poor credit make up less than 15% of the industry's total auto loan portfolio. That has shielded CUs from some delinquency issues, but some say it raises questions about whether the movement is reaching the consumers it was chartered to serve.

Kathy Kraninger, the bureau's director, is in a standoff with Democrats about her claim that the agency cannot supervise institutions under the Military Lending Act.