Gateway Credit Union lifted its level of new lending over the last year and reported growth in home lending of 19 per cent in the year to June 2011.The alliance with Yellow Brick Road, as well as investment in its own channels, helps explain the growth. Gateway ranks alongside the two defence force credit unions as the fastest growing in the sector.The rapid rate of growth is three times growth in home loans across the banking system, and compares with growth last year of five per cent for Gateway. The Sydney-based credit union's home loan book stood at A$565million at June.The credit union has funded most of its growth through deposits, which increased 12 per cent to $635 million over the year.Gateway is likely to sell a percentage of its home loans to a home-loan warehouse of one of the major banks before the end of the year. It has established its own special-purpose vehicle for this purpose. It may sell mortgage-backed securities in its own right next year.Paul Thomas, chief executive of Gateway, did not want to be specific about the contribution of Yellow Brick Road to new business levels at Gateway. YBR is a mortgage origination and financial planning business run by former Wizard Home Loans' CEO, Mark Bouris.However, Thomas did say that Gateway was in the second year of a five-year business plan and that the contribution of YBR was "pretty much as expected".In the next year "we'd expect that to be better", he said.Thomas emphasised that Gateway continued to invest in its own distribution efforts, pointing out that the credit union (which has its origins in serving Commonwealth Bank staff) had never merged with any other credit union.Gateway reported a net profit of $2.4 million in the year to June 2011, down from $2.7 million in 2010. Reduced interest margins, rather than operating costs, were the chief reason for the fall.Thomas said of the low-priced home loan offers that are now common in the market: "There are some pretty crazy discounts. They cannot be sustained."Gateway's board has proposed changes to its constitution to be discussed at its annual general meeting next month that will allow the credit union to adopt a "mutual bank" name in the future if it wishes, though there is no immediate plan to do so.Members of Heritage Building Society, meanwhile, agreed to adopt the name Heritage Bank at their AGM in Toowoomba yesterday.In prepared remarks for the AGM, Brian Carter, chair of Heritage, said: "The unfortunate fact is that younger people do not know - and, more importantly, do not care - what a building society is.  "The consequence of this is that they will take their financial business to something they know and understand - a bank." Carter said a change of name had happened several times in the organisation's 136-year history, such as when two building societies had merged in 1981 and adopted the new name "Heritage".