This page delves into several key strategic planning ideas for credit unions. On the way, we provide a brief overview of the credit union market in contrast with the larger financial market in order to provide context.
Credit Union Market and Industry Trends: 2025
2025 is proving to be a complicated year for the credit union industry. On one hand, we have seen exceptional growth in total industry assets and loans outstanding, suggesting that borrowers continue to prefer community-based banking over larger traditional financial institutions; a trend that has held steady for the last decade:
Credit Union Market Trends, YoY Growth 2024-2025
| Total Increase | % Increase | New Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | +$79B | +3.5% | 2.3T |
| Total Loans Outstanding | +$42B | +2.6% | 1.65T |
On the other hand, however, there have also been notable (albeit not critical) rises in delinquent payments as well as a sizeable decrease in net income for credit unions since last year, which are likely manifestations of general macroeconomic conditions making it harder for borrowers to make consistent payments:
Credit Union Market Trends: YoY Losses, 2024-2025
| Total Increase | % Increase | New Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delinquency Rates (Basis Points) | +15 | N/A | 98 |
| Net Income | -$0.5B | -3.6% | $14.4B |
In short, there is more money in the market for credit unions than there has been in previous years. However, most of that money currently sits with borrowers. This, combined with increased cybersecurity risks over the last two years has created an environment in which it is difficult, although not impossible, for credit unions to thrive.
Other financial institutions have taken note. In particular, fintech companies (e.g., Dave, MoneyLion) have swooped in and increased their market share by 5% in the last year, offering borrowers cash advance products with a shorter term to meet contemporary market needs.
| 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|
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When optimizing your credit union, strategic planning ideas are essential to attract new borrowers and maintain existing ones. In 2025, having a solid mastery of these ideas — either through your own in-house team or through an outsourced partner — is especially critical.
Credit Union Strategic Planning Ideas, 2025
The following sections develop the five most important credit union strategic planning ideas in 2025.
Strengthen Your Digital Lending & Mobile-First Solutions
As the graph shows, borrowers have been increasingly turning to digital solutions over the last several years. These averages get more extreme when you subdivide by generation, as nearly 99% of Gen Z now uses some sort of digital interface.
For credit unions, this is a matter of survival; with fintech companies increasing their market share every year, the best way for credit unions to stay competitive is by providing borrowers with options for digital lending and loan management to raise origination rates and increase processing speed.
Some examples of easily implementable mobile-first solutions include:
- Loan Origination Systems (LOS): These solutions allow for faster loan approvals due to AI-driven underwriting as well as pre-fill applications and e-signature support. Credit unions in particular benefit from this practice because it also works with alternative credit scoring.
- Self-Service Portals: These options allow borrowers to apply for loans, check existing balances, and manage payments directly from their phones. Push notifications and SMS alerts also help credit unions fight against higher delinquency rates.
- AI-Powered Chatbots: These high-accessibility features automate loan inquiries and process applications, effectively guiding borrowers through pre-qualification and servicing requests. Having the ability to engage applicants and borrowers in real time will help improve their loan conversion rate.
*Chart Sources: Source 1 | Source 2
Expand Loan Portfolio Diversification & Risk Management
With delinquency rates rising over the last year and no definite turnaround in sight, credit unions benefit most from diversification to reduce the potential damage of any one loan type. This means identifying and prioritizing lower-risk areas to capture new revenue opportunities.
Traditional credit unions have focused primarily on mortgages due to the low perceived level of risk as well as their low delinquency rates. Having tools in your corner that can identify these opportunities will make this easier, such as:
- Diversify Lending Products: Expand your products to include green lending products like EV and solar loans, student loans, and small business loans. In addition to broadening your portfolio, these products will connect a credit union to their local community.
- Implement Automated Risk Assessment & Alternative Credit Scoring: Embracing AI models allows credit unions to assess real-time statistics like cash flow, payment history, and other alternative credit data to include borrowers who are excluded from traditional FICO-based underwriting.
- Strengthen Loan Loss Forecasting & Stress Testing: Credit unions need to take a more active stance in managing potential future losses. Conduct scenario modeling to determine the union’s health in the event of an economic downturn and establish higher reserves to prepare for recession environments.
*Chart Sources: Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3
Prioritize Personalized Financial Wellness Tools
One of the primary advantages fintech companies have over traditional credit unions is their ability to provide borrowers with personalized banking services. Financial coaching, budgeting tools, and even gamified financial literacy programs have been some of the major keys to their increase in market share over the last year.
Credit unions will need to adapt in order to stay competitive. By providing borrowers with similar options, they can increase their customer loyalty, retention rates, and overall engagement. The most important features to consider are:
- Resources to help borrowers become more financially literate
- Lending recommendations based on spending habits
- Tailored savings plans
- AI-driven insight portals
- Budgeting & savings tools
These options increase engagement and provide borrowers with more of a reason to work with your credit union.
Strengthen Cybersecurity Measures
Cyberattacks in which data was destroyed have increased by 13% since last year. In fact, more than 54% of financial institutions around the globe experienced some kind of cyber attack.
Cybersecurity Threat Breakdown, 2024-2025
| Threat Type | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Phishing Attacks | 45% |
| Malware/Ransomware | 30% |
| Cloud Security Breaches | 15% |
| AI-Driven Attacks | 5% |
| Nation-State Cyber Espionage | 3% |
| Credential Compromise | 2% |
*Chart Sources: Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3
For credit unions, the growing concerns over cyberattacks pose a serious problem when attracting new borrowers, as there is now an extra level of trust to earn. They can earn that trust, however, by providing prospective borrowers with:
- Automated Fraud Detection: Credit unions can leverage AI technology to detect fraudulent activity by analyzing large datasets (e.g., false identities, misrepresenting income) much more efficiently than what is traditionally possible.
- Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Utilizing multiple security checkpoint instances in your processes for logins and applications allows for a more secure connection and protects against unauthorized usage.
- Cloud-Based Verification: Credit unions that incorporate cloud-based authentication tools to better respond to cloud-based cybersecurity threats like cloud security breaches and phishing attacks.
Finally, Partner with a Platform Designed for Credit Unions
The reality is that these challenges are a lot to tackle on your own, even if you have the resources to hire an in-house team. Having an experienced party handle the time-consuming and detail-oriented work for you frees up your staff to focus on providing excellent services.
Since our founding, defi has been a forward-thinking company, always looking to be ahead of the curve as the credit union market evolves. This means creating credit union strategy planning ideas that help our clients achieve their short-term and long-term goals.
Our suite of services is designed to assist lenders and borrowers at every stage of the loan lifecycle. You can read more in the sections below.
Origination
defi provides a proprietary loan origination platform for credit unions which provides lenders with tools to:
- Scalable LOS software designed to meet credit unions where they are and grow with them
- Deep continuity services to monitor, schedule, and execute time-sensitive actionsComplete configurability to enable credit unions to customize their workflows
In addition, we provide these services while maintaining strict compliance with federal law.
Servicing
Effectively manage your portfolio with our API-enabled servicing platforms. Manage your loans/leases with seamless tools for:
- Customer invoicing
- Credit Bureau Reporting
- Remarketing Services
- Collections, Repossessions, & Bankruptcy
These services are provided through a 24/7 self-service portal, providing credit unions with unbroken access to their products.
Managed Servicing
If you are working on a limited budget or limited staff, you may want to outsource your loan servicing options to our specialist teams.
These experts handle all of the time-consuming, costly, and detail-oriented work for you, leveraging defi’s expertise and technology to manage your operations and optimize customer satisfaction.
The Next Steps
Still trying to figure out your credit union strategic planning ideas? The best thing you can do is speak with an experienced partner who will put you on the right track. Use the links below to reach out to our team and register for a demo.
defi SOLUTIONS is redefining loan origination with software solutions and services that enable lenders to automate, streamline, and deliver on their complete end-to-end lending lifecycle. Borrowers want a quick turnaround on their loan applications, and lenders want quick decisions that satisfy borrowers and hold up under scrutiny. With defi’s originations solutions, lenders can increase revenue and productivity through automation, configuration, and integrations and incorporate data and services that meet unique needs. For more information, Contact our team today and learn how our cloud-based loan origination products can transform your business.
