Lending Growth Strong At CUs

MADISON, Wis. - (06/03/05) -- Loan portfolios expanded by ahealthy 1.1% in April at the nation's credit unions, the strongestloan growth in eight months, according to CUNA. Mortgage lendingcontinued to lead the way, with other mortgages growing 1.8%; homeequity lending by 1.8%; and fixed-rate mortgages by 1.4%. Unsecuredpersonal loans, car loans and credit card loans also grew at ahealthy pace for the month, too. Shares expanded by a strong 0.9%,or $5.3 billion, in April, with credit unions adding $20 billion innew deposits through the first four months of the year. Creditunions continued to ratchet-up their certificate rates in responseto the Federal Reserve's hiking of short-term rates, with 44% ofcredit union raising the CD rates and 30% lifting their moneymarket account rates in April after the Fed's latest action,according to CUNA. But only small amounts are raising their rateson regular shares, with just 8% raising their regular sharerates.