Perhaps more than any other country, Americans take pride in automobile ownership. In all but a few American cities, a car is essential to living independently. Credit unions, by making auto loans available at affordable rates, do not only play a key role in empowering millions of members to own cars - they also thus shape our national culture and fuel our economy.

After a strong quarter of mortgage originations in spring 2003 and an uptick in rates to begin the third quarter, many expected the mortgage boom to falter. Had the drop off occurred, credit unions would have felt a squeeze on their ROA, given today's low interest rates and the influx of service revenue provided by mortgage originations.

Two weeks ago, Credit Unions Concurrently Achieve High Loan to Share Ratios and High Investment Yields showed a list of the Top 10 Credit Unions over $50 million in assets with loan-to-share ratios greater than 80% in terms of highest investment yields. This list, which is reprinted below, tells the end of a story. Following is the setting and rising action of the story: how three of these credit unions structured their portfolios to achieve high investment yields without being imprudent with regard to liquidity risk.

Two weeks ago, Credit Unions Concurrently Achieve High Loan to Share Ratios and High Investment Yields showed a list of the Top 10 Credit Unions over $50 million in assets with loan-to-share ratios greater than 80% in terms of highest investment yields. This list, which is reprinted below, tells the end of a story. Following is the setting and rising action of the story: how three of these credit unions structured their portfolios to achieve high investment yields without being imprudent with regard to liquidity risk.

Did any of the accounting scandals of the past years affect the credit union industry? In many ways, they did not. Arthur Andersen's credit union clients had to look for new auditors; however, by and large, credit unions made it through the past two years unaffected. Unlike large publicly held corporations, in credit unions, the incentives to fudge the numbers are small.