WASHINGTON–In what has become an annual issue of disagreement between banks and credit unions, the American Bankers Association and two banking associations have asked leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees to provide banks with the same access to banks as credit unions with rent exemptions for facilities located on military bases.
As CUToday.info has reported, the issue is a subject of debate each time the National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense spending, comes before Congress. Credit unions have to date succeeded in keeping language out of the bill that would give banks the same access.
In a letter, the associations stated that a third of the banks still on bases are ATM-only operations, with many more banks likely to end their on-base presence entirely this year.
“The reason for this, the groups said, is rising lease costs that banks pay but credit unions do not,” the American Bankers Association said in a statement on its website. “Credit unions have opposed leveling the playing field, claiming their presence alone provides sufficient financial support for military families.”
‘The Real Motivation’
However, their real motivation is the “fear of the competition and collaboration between banks and credit unions from which military families have benefited for over a century,” the groups said. “We support it today because it provides exactly the same benefit for banks and, thereby, increases the likelihood that they will remain on and return to military bases.”
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