Study: CU Card Portfolios Shrunk During Third Quarter

The majority of credit union credit card portfolios contracted in the third-quarter, according to AssetExchange, a Portland, Ore., company that arranges sales of card portfolios for credit unions. The company concluded that 63% of credit union card portfolios were smaller in September than they were in September 2002. This compares with 37% of credit-union card portfolios that grew year over year. That was the only bright light in the survey. Credit union card penetration, or the percentage of members who have a card issued by a credit union, has declined to slightly under 16% from about 17% three years ago. Credit-union card outstandings shrank 5% since December 2001. Some 90% of the 43 portfolios that have been sold in 2003 to date shrank in 2002.