WASHINGTON–Credit unions and banks are squaring off again in the media over statements each side has made and positions that have been taken.
The American Bankers Association has objected to both CUNA’s recent recommendations to NCUA to revise FOM rules and to provisions that were included in the Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act (HR) 1422) that have also been included in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for FY 2016.
As CUToday.info has reported, HR 1422 is one of credit unions’ priorities on Capitol Hill in the current Congress. It would give credit unions parity with banks in the classification of loans for one- to four-family, non-owner-occupied residential properties, which credit unions must currently classify as commercial loans.
Bankers’ groups have strongly objected to the provisions. That objection drew an objection of its own from CUNA CEO Jim Nussle, who said that the “bankers’ willful ignorance of the credit union mission and history, as well as the purpose of the tax status…The bankers' end game is clear and their views should be disregarded because they are littered with inaccuracies and fallacies.”
The bankers have also raised objections to a lengthy proposal CUNA has provided to NCUA aimed at getting revisions made to the agency’s field of membership rules. The CUNA plan would largely loosen those rules.
“For years, tax-dodging credit unions have been granted extensive authority by their regulator, leveraging their taxpayer subsidy to grow aggressively while resorting to gimmicks to evade existing membership restrictions,” said American Bankers Association CEO Frank Keating. “These new actions, if taken, would be yet another abuse of both the letter and spirit of the law…As the credit union industry seeks to expand, it does so at the expense of all taxpayers. Congress should be very concerned, and NCUA should quickly and strongly reject this attempted power grab.”