Spokane Teachers Credit Union says it posted net income of $19.1 million last year, up about 18 percent from $16.2 million in 2010, while it also saw a significant rise in membership.

"We had a great year," says Bill Before, its chief financial officer. He attributed the solid results to such factors as strong membership, good credit quality, a strong balance sheet, and "how we weathered the downturn in the economy."

STCU's loans grew 3 percent last year to $1.25 billion, up from $1.22 billion a year earlier, and deposits grew by about 10 percent to $1.3 billion, up from $1.19 billion a year earlier, Before says. He adds that the deposit growth was "pretty balanced" across regular share saving accounts, checking accounts, share certificates, and money market accounts.

The credit union ended last year with 100,500 members, up sharply from about 93,000 a year earlier.

Before says that some of that new growth appears to resulted from a national initiative, called "Move Your Money," encouraging people to move accounts to smaller banks and credit unions in reaction to some of the fees charged at large banks. He adds that STCU recently has averaged more than 1,500 new memberships per month.

"It's accelerating, because in February (of 2012), we opened 1,800 new memberships," Before adds.

STCU ended last year with total assets of $1.6 billion, up about 9 percent from $1.45 billion a year earlier, and total capital of $163.9 million, up about 14 percent from $144.4 million at the end of 2010.

Its net worth ratio, one measure of a credit union's health, was 10.21 percent at the end of last year, up from 9.84 percent a year earlier, and it had a return on average assets of 1.2 percent, up from 1.1 percent, Before says.

It's projecting a return on average assets of 0.99 percent for this year, which equates to anticipated net income of about $16.5 million in 2012. That projection factors in historically low interest rates on home, auto, and other loans that could impact earnings, as well as the impact from potential additional regulations.

Within the loans category, Before says real estate loans jumped by 14 percent; Visa credit card accounts grew by 7 percent; and auto loans rose 6 percent. He says after selling some of its mortgage loans to manage interest-rate risk, the credit union's net real estate loan portfolio grew to $565 million, up from $545 million in 2010.

Before adds that STCU increased its auto loans by $13 million last year, but that with an early promotion this year, it already has increased its auto loans by $10 million through the first two months of 2012.

As another positive economic indicator, Before says STCU is seeing a decline in overall loan delinquency. STCU's reserve-to-loan ratio was 0.91 percent for 2011, compared with a 0.95 percent ratio for 2010, he says.

"That's an economic indicator that we've gotten through the worst of it in terms of losses being expensed on loans or loan charge-offs," Before adds.

The credit union operates 15 branches in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. It recently announced it will expand services April 2 at a Ponderay, Idaho, branch that opened three years ago.