WASHINGTON–The Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act (H.R. 7003) has been introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).
The legislation has strong support from credit unions. As CUToday.info reported earlier, the bill was introduced on the same day as the CU Governance Modernization Act.
CUNA noted the bill would be the first significant overhaul of the Federal Credit Union Act since 1998 and would make several updates to credit union field of membership and member business lending requirements, including addressing credit unions’ ability to serve underserved and marginalized communities.
“This bill will allow credit unions to further fulfill their congressional mandate by being there for consumers left un- and underbanked by companies putting profit ahead of people,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “Thank you to Chairwoman Waters for introducing this bill that would help increase access to safe and affordable credit union services to underserved communities across the country."
Added NAFCU President/CEO Dan Berger, "In historically underserved communities, research reflects big banks’ track-record of prioritizing their bottom line over consumers’ well-being while credit unions have, for decades, prioritized critical financial support for those in need. This is why NAFCU supports Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters’ recently introduced legislation, The Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act, which will continue to support credit unions and their long-established efforts to eliminate financial disparities in banking deserts and underserved communities across our country. We thank Chairwoman Waters and Chairman Ed Perlmutter for their leadership in this effort."
The Specifics
Specifically, CUNA noted H.R. 7003 would:
- Allow all federal credit unions to add underserved areas to their field of membership
- Exempt business loans made by credit unions in low-income areas from the credit union member business lending cap
- Expand the definition of a low-income credit union to include any area that is more than 10 miles from the nearest branch of a financial institution
Waters has flagged the Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act for markup by the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, March 16.