American Banker: CUs are 'the mouse that roared'

MADISON, Wis. (6/3/09)--Credit unions' market share for the home loan origination market has grown to the extent that they could be called the industry's "mouse that roared," American Banker said Tuesday.

With the reputation of large financial institutions hurt by aggressive loans that backfired during the real estate market's boom, credit unions have gained more members, the publication said.

Also, credit unions tend to have a better reputation than many lenders in the residential real estate finance business, and--for the most part--follow low-risk strategies, American Banker said.

"People are looking for people they can trust to originate a mortgage," Les Parker, president of Parker & Co., a mortgage advisory firm with clients that include credit unions, told the publication.

Credit unions have some constraints on the their home loan growth such as regulatory and business culture changes they would need to implement to become bigger player in the mortgage business, and because of the nature of their membership paradigm, American Banker said.

American Banker is a banking industry publication.

courtesy of cuna.org