Credit unions increased their borrowings this quarter by 2% to $11.7 billion.
With interest rates projected to rise and real estate loans increasing by 3.03%
this quarter, many credit unions took advantage of the low borrowing rates to
hedge their mortgage loans. The average rate paid on borrowings was 3.78% in
the first quarter compared to 4.07% at year end 2003.The number of credit unions
reporting borrowings increased as well to 529 credit unions, which represent
about 5.6% of the industry.
Short-term borrowings of less than a year still make up the largest amount
of total borrowings for all credit unions at 45% of all borrowings. Borrowings
between 1-3 years and long-term borrowings greater than 3 years composed 22.69%
and 32.24% of all borrowings respectively.