RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. -- Credit Union Direct Lending announced the winners of the 2004 Best Practices Awards during the Sixth Annual Auto Lending Symposium, held June 16-18 at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Six participating CUDL credit unions were honored for their overall indirect lending practices in the areas of dealer relations, member awareness, portfolio management and program innovation.

The winners were selected from three asset categories. Winners with up to $100 million in assets were Cambridge Portuguese Credit Union (Somerville, Mass.) and Oregon Employees Federal Credit Union (Salem, Ore.). In the $101–$600 million category were Yolo Federal Credit Union (Woodland, Calif.) and IQ Credit Union (Vancouver, Wash.). In the $601 million-plus category, winners included Boeing Employees' Credit Union (Tukwila, Wash.) and Wescom Credit Union (Pasadena, Calif.).

More than 350 attendees representing credit unions, dealerships and vendors attended this year's symposium. The first keynote speaker, Andrew Koblenz, COO of industry affairs at the National Automobile Dealers Association, focused on current trends and ethics in the automotive industry. Following Koblenz was Gretchen Joyce, director of autos at eBay Motors, who explained the benefits of online auto buying. An in-depth comparison of the credit union industry to other financial institutions was discussed by Dave McKay, senior director at J.D. Power and Associates' Power Information Network. Symposium attendees also attended more than 18 educational sessions and roundtable discussions offered. Topics included "Understanding Your Real Competition," "Cross-selling Strategies," "Indirect vs. Direct Methods of Collections," and question-and-answer sessions with representatives from dealerships on the CUDL platform.

CUDL's 2005 Auto Lending Symposium is planned for June 8-10, 2005, in Las Vegas.