Credit unions in California and Nevada saw lending surge in the third quarter.
California institutions witnessed loans increase 11 percent, to $136 billion, year-over-year. Lending has surged from its post-recession of $68 billion in 2011, according to the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues on Monday.
For Nevada credit unions, loans totaled $3.1 billion, up 12 percent from a year earlier. That is also up 62 percent from 2013's post-recession low of $1.9 billion, the leagues said. The groups released two seven-page reports, one on each state, outlining performance for the third quarter.
Auto loans did particularly well for credit unions in both states. New auto loans jumped 16 percent and used car loans rose 12 percent for institutions in California. Credit unions in Nevada recorded a 33 percent surge in new auto loans while used car loans rose 10 percent.
The 310 credit unions in California added more than 600,000 new members, bringing their total membership to roughly 12 million. Nevada has 15 credit unions with about 300,000 members. These institutions added 500 new members in the third quarter.
The reports also found that members are trying to cut costs while also utilizing services at their credit unions, particularly bill-pay.
Nevada and California credit unions grew their employee bases by five and three percent respectively.
