PORTLAND , Ore. , August 22, 2006 – AssetExchange, the leading independent credit card portfolio advisory and brokerage firm, has analyzed credit union credit card portfolio trends for the 2nd quarter of 2006.

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

• The number of credit card accounts fell slightly since June 2005, while CU membership slightly increased. This results in a continued decline in penetration, dropping from 18.2% of members in June 2005 to 18.0% in June 2006.
• Average balances per account are increasing, resulting in an increase in total card assets from $21.5 billion in June 2005 to $23.4 billion in June 2006, a 4.3% increase in inflation-adjusted dollars.
• Total card assets for portfolios over $1 million increased slightly as a percentage of total assets, increasing from 4.04% in June 2005 to 4.24% in June 2006.
• The percentage of portfolios that grew faster than the rate of inflation during the previous 12 months was 50.4%, so almost exactly half of all portfolios grew and half shrunk. Fewer grew than in the previous year, when 55% achieved real growth.
• Approximately 10 credit unions with credit card portfolios larger than $1 million sold their portfolios during the second quarter of 2006, with a combined dollar volume of roughly $97 million.

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 (4.32% between June 2005 and June 2006).