WASHINGTON—NAFCU and CUNA have both told Congress they have plenty of ideas for ways the CFPB could provide relief to credit unions.
NAFCU suggested using greater exemption authority and offering more guidance on the bureau’s TILA-RESPA integrated mortgage disclosure rule, in a letter Wednesday to the Senate Banking Committee ahead of CFPB Director Richard Cordray’s testimony Thursday. Cordray yesterday delivered his semiannual report on bureau activities to the Senate Banking Committee.
NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger urged Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to press the CFPB to provide greater relief to credit unions. He also noted the association’s opposition to credit unions being under CFPB authority. NAFCU noted it was the only credit union trade association to oppose putting credit unions under the bureau’s authority when the Dodd-Frank Act was considered.
“While there are credible arguments to be made for the existence of the CFPB, its primary focus should be on regulating the unregulated bad actors, not adding new regulatory burdens to good actors, like credit unions, that already fall under a prudential regulator,” Berger wrote.
Suggesting other ways CFPB could provide relief to credit unions, Berger said the bureau could use its broad legal authority under the Dodd-Frank Act to exempt credit unions from certain rulemakings. He mentioned the bipartisan letter signed by 329 House members urging him to do more in this area. Berger also noted several CFPB issues that NAFCU is monitoring, including:
- Overdraft rulemaking.
- Home Mortgage Disclosure Act changes
- The Federal Communications Commission’s recent order on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the effect it will have on credit unions’ ability to contact their members about important notification and timely updates.
For its part, CUNA said in its letter thatthe “financial and operational burdens associated with the Bureau’s poorly tailored regulations have a direct impact on credit unions of all sizes. When a rule is changed, the credit union must decide whether they must comply with the rule and if so, how to comply. Then, they must decide whether the cost of compliance makes it worth continuing to offer particular products and services and if so, at what price. Once they have decided to move forward, there are often countless changes the credit union must make, ranging from updating computer systems and forms to training staff and explaining the changes to members. Without question, all of these modifications have a financial and human resource impact on member-owned credit unions, keeping them from otherwise serving their members.”
CUNA also outlined a host of areas where it wants the CFPB or Congress to make changes. A copy of CUNA’s letter is available in CUToday.info’s The Gov here.