PEORIA, Ill.-Rates are unlikely to move much in the first half of the year, but will trend upwards in the latter half, according to Keith Reynolds, VP Lending/Business Services at Citizens Equity First CU in Peoria, Ill. He expects 2010 to be much better on the origination side than 2009 was, but the refinance mini-boom is over.
"We think our purchase volume is going to be greater volume than last year," Reynolds said. "We're really going to start promoting real estate loans out (in California, where CEFCU took over Valley Federal); any lift we see is going to be an increase in marketshare."
"Despite the poor economy we had a record loan year on the consumer side in '09," Reynolds noted. "That as much as anything was a reflection of the fact that we had a lot of confidence in our underwriting and pricing disciplines. When a lot of our competitors went to the sidelines we didn't change much. [But] we weren't naive over the last 12 to 18 months. We knew this was going to happen so we've taken the opportunity to fortify our relationships with those dealers. Hopefully those efforts pay off when the other competitors come back."
