PROVO, Utah-Delinquency ratios at credit unions in all regions in the country are up over one year ago, with the Southeast, the mountain states and the West Coast seeing the sharpest increases. Analysis released by CUData.com shows that for the third quarters of 2008 credit unions in a region running from Nevada to New Mexico and north to Montana and Idaho have seen an 86.2% increase in delinquencies over the same period one year earlier. Washington, Oregon and California have seen an 82.9% increase in delinquencies over the same period, followed by the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, which have watched member delinquencies rise 79%. Five Midwestern states-Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio-have enjoyed a relatively moderate 5.3% increase over the same period. Since the beginning of 2008, credit unions have charged off more than $31 million in bad loans through the first three quarters.
Not surprisingly, foreclosed real estate has increased dramatically over Sept. 30, 2007, with credit unions foreclosing on $553 million in home loans. As reported earlier by Credit Union Journal, average credit union ROA declined to 50 basis points at the end of the third quarter. That's down from 95 basis points just four years earlier.
