PORTLAND , Ore. , May 28, 2009 – AssetExchange, a leading credit union credit card portfolio advisory and brokerage firm, has analyzed 1st quarter 2009 credit union credit card portfolio trends.

For the roughly 2,100 credit unions with credit card portfolios of $1 million and larger:

•       Two large card portfolios were sold in Q1 2009:  Kern Schools ($101 million) and American First ($53 million), both in California and experiencing recent declines in net worth.  Another five credit unions sold smaller portfolios, bringing the total sales to about $190 million. 

• Card portfolios continue to grow, although the rate of growth has slowed. Outstanding balances grew 5.9% between March 2008 and March 2009 to $31 billion, down from 16% growth in Q1 of 2008. Card accounts grew 2.4% over the same period to 12.2 million, down from 21% growth during Q1 2008.  The percentage of portfolios that grew more than the rate of inflation during the previous 12 months decreased to 66% in the 1st quarter of 2009 from 75% in the 1st quarter of 2008.

• Strong growth in other assets led to total card assets as a percentage of total assets declining slightly to 4.5%, from 4.7 in the 1st quarter of 2008.

• Credit card penetration remained approximately flat in the 1st quarter of 2009 at 18%.

Data provided in this press release is for credit card portfolios larger than $1 million in each time period and is based on NCUA call report data.  Inflation values are from the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (-0.38% between March 2008 and March 2009).