PODCAST: The state of lending

What’s happening in credit union lending? What do CUNA’s economists forecast for the rest of 2023? How could economic uncertainty and a potential recession change the lending outlook?

As we near the midway point of 2023, CUNA Chief Economist/Deputy Chief Advocacy Officer Mike Schenk shares what he's seeing on this episode of the CUNA News Podcast.

He joins CUNA Associate Editor Brock Fritz to discuss the economic and lending trends that influenced the CUNA economists’ May quarterly forecast, which estimates a more normal lending landscape after a massive increase in 2022. This late May conversation details the economic factors at play while exploring the state of mortgages, auto loans, the job market, and more.

“We've seen a significant deceleration in loan growth overall,” Schenk says. “There's a good deal of uncertainty in the marketplace—2023 looks a lot different than 2022. I wouldn't necessarily characterize the forecast as a reversion to the mean, but things will look more normal over this forecast horizon than they have in the last couple years.”

You can listen to the CUNA News Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Stitcher Radio.

In this episode:

1:20: Lending summary for the first half of 2023

4:24: Economic uncertainty and the odds of a recession

6:32: Consumer confidence and the banking sector

11:40: Mortgages and the housing market

19:57: Auto lending

22:58: Inflation headed in the right direction

23:49: What should credit unions do?

29:25: Asset quality