WASHINGTON – 2000 was marked by a lending explosion, and a dearth of deposits. That all changed this year as Callahan's third quarter stats further prove. Callahan's data shows total share growth up 16% but loan growth only inching up to 9%. Still, there continues to be a tremendous boot in liquidity for large credit unions with the average portfolio up 32% compared to last September, said Callahan President Chip Filson said. The three-month increase in savings for the 1,587 credit unions with more than $50 million in assets was 3.6% or almost twice the rate in the same period in 2000. Likewise, the three-month loan increase of only 3.1% was half the 6.5% rate in the 2000 third quarter. Real estate lending continues to be the stalwart portfolio driver comprising 9.1% of all loans over the past year. First and second mortgages now comprise 44% of all loans for credit unions over $50 million. Auto lending which grew at 8.3% in 2001, fell to second place with 37.2% of all loans. Credit card lending and unsecured loans showed the slowest annual growth at 3.2%. Meanwhile, return on assets are stagnant, at best, according to Callahan. Delinquencies are up with chargeoffs increasing 17%, which is not as bad as it seems giving that the percentage has been "flat or nominal over the last three years."