CUs Maintain Share As Auto Market Shrinks

Credit union growth in auto lending means success in grabbing a bigger piece of a shrinking pie. Callahan's noted that data from AutoCount USA showed that sales of vehicles in the U.S. fell to 17.3 million in July, down from one year earlier when 18.1 million vehicles were sold. "In the face of huge incentives and 0% financing, the nation's credit unions still managed to boost their auto lending market share to over 16%," Callahan's noted. "June 2003 data on 29 states show credit unions taking 11.9% of all new auto loans and a substantial 19.9% of all used auto loans, putting their overall loan share at 16.3%."

The top credit union auto lending state is Colorado, where CUs have a 32% share of financing on new vehicles, and 40% on used vehicles. Other states where credit unions have a strong share are Minnesota (24.8%), Iowa (22.2%), Montana (22.1%) and Washington (22%).

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