IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Credit unions were responsible for approximately $1.26 billion in outstanding loans in the Inland Empire at the end of the second quarter of this year, according to the California Credit Union League.
That was a 13.8 percent increase compared with the second quarter of 2015, with most the growth coming in new car loans (51.3 percent), used car loans (19.7 percent), and credit card lending (2.2 percent), the credit union league stated in its second-quarter report on the region.
Credit unions also held $2.5 billion in deposits for consumers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties as of June 30, mostly in the form of checking and savings accounts, CD’s. IRA’s and Keogh retirement accounts.
That was a 6.7 percent year-over-year increase.
“We’ve had a good strong run in the Inland Empire recently because the economy there has been recovering,” said Dwight Johnson, chief economist for the credit union league. “We’ve seen a real improvement in new car loans, which is a new thing for us. With credit unions, it’s usually loans for used cars.”
Twenty five credit unions are based in the Inland region, with nearly 334,000 members as of the end of the second quarter. That was a 1.3 percent increase – about 4,150 new members – compared with the second quarter of 2014.
“Credit unions handled the recession better than a lot of other financial institutions, maybe because we aren’t that close to the mortgage market,” Johnson said.
