CU Lenders Expect Good Times To Keep Rolling
November 3, 2016 3:09 PM
Attendees of the CUNA Lending Councils recent conference in Las Vegas were upbeat about the current state of lending operations, and foresee continued success as the calendar turns to 2017 in less than two months.
Elisabeth Hays<br><em>Manager of consumer lending, Seattle Metropolitan CU, Seattle</em>
Historically, the end of the year is a little slower, so we ramp up the other parts of the year. Overall, we are growing exponentially with Seattle expanding. Amazon and other companies are hiring, so there are many people relocating to Seattle. Our goal is to target them and have them make us their primary financial institution.
Alan Berry<br><em>President and CEO, Greenville Heritage FCU, Greenville, S.C.</em>
I think we will continue to see slow, steady growth. It has been about 3% to 5% growth each year. We always like it to be higher, but we are not complaining. We mostly do auto loans, with some short-term mortgages. Our members like to pay off their homes faster, so we typically do 15-year or 20-year loans, not so many 30-year loans.
Dean Harris<br><em>AVP of consumer lending, St. Marys CU, Marlborough, Mass.</em>
We project stable originations for 2017. We dont foresee an appreciable increase. Mortgages and indirect auto lending are where we are strongest. Some people are talking about auto sales hitting a plateau, but there still will be cars sold, at some level, and we run a great indirect program, so we expect to continue to get our share of the pie.
David Crenshaw<br><em>VP of commercial lending, TEXAR FCU, Texarkana, Texas</em>
Our lending is going well. Mortgages have been good, but personal consumer loans slowed down a little bit in recent months. We started doing member business lending about 18 months ago and growth has been good. We have had a lot of repeat business because we have good members, but we need to expand our base. 2017 should be good.
Mira Richardson<br><em>Loan manager, Deer Valley CU, Phoenix</em>
Our lending has been above our monthly goals all year. We are going to start doing auto-decisioning in indirect. We don't know exactly what the numbers will be, but we anticipate an improvement.
Spencer Scarboro<br><em>SVP of lending integrity, State Employee' CU, Raleigh, N.C.</em>
Our lending has been going well, especially auto lending. We are seeing a little more growth in used car lending compared to new car lending. The real estate market in North Carolina is good, and we are 99% concentrated in North Carolina. We are picking up more purchase mortgages. As long as we continue to do the right things, we have found growth comes with that.
