WASHINGTON—It’s a new year in Washington, with new members of the House and Senate sworn in, and the Defense Credit Union Council and America’s Credit Unions are engaging with lawmakers, sharing their priorities, the trade groups reported.
With CFPB Director Rohit Chopra likely to be removed, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak said the trade group will encourage Congress to explore potential reforms.
“Specifically, DCUC is focused on ensuring the CFPB operates in accordance with its founding principles, advocating for a more efficient and compliant structure,” he said.
Stverak reminded that DCUC expressed strong support for the Military Financial Services Protection Act of 2024, introduced by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill in December. ‘
“DCUC has been in active discussions with Chairman Hill and several members of the House Financial Services Committee to emphasize our support of this important legislation. We will continue to work collaboratively with Hill and his staff to reintroduce and gather support among other members of Congress for this legislation,” Stverak said.
Stverak added his organization is increasingly hearing from credit unions wanting to support active-duty service members, veterans and their families—particularly as they transition out of the military.
“This highlights the importance of advocating for the Veterans Military Banking Bill, which would enable credit unions to better serve these communities across the full military lifecycle. DCUC remains committed to aggressively advocating for the passage of this crucial legislation in 2025,” he said.
Finally, Stverak reminded that several threats to the credit union industry have emerged over the past few months.
“These include attempts to introduce the Credit Card Competition Act and ongoing efforts to impose Community Reinvestment Act or CRA-like regulations on credit unions. DCUC will continue to strongly oppose overregulation that could limit credit unions' ability to serve their communities. Additionally, the organization remains proactive in defending the tax status of credit unions, which remains under scrutiny.”
ACU Addressing ‘Defensive And Offensive’ Issues
Noting that ACU has released its advocacy priorities for 2025, ACU Chief Advocacy Officer Carrie Hunt said the trade group is addressing “defensive and offensive” issues.
“Our members have spoken loud and clear that they do want to see some change so they can continue to evolve and thrive—so every American can have the opportunity to belong to a credit union,” Hunt said. “At the outset, protecting the credit union tax exemption is our number one priority. It's something we've been focused on and it’s a big focus for us into 2025. There will be a lot of work with policymakers behind the scenes over the next few months to ensure policymakers understand the credit union tax exemption is key to credit unions’ survival—and it is part of our core business structure.
“One of our main points that we express to policymakers is the importance of how credit unions engage in the financial services arena in general, and how our tax exemption provides benefits directly to consumers overall and supports a very healthy economy,” Hunt continued. “Certainly as President Trump continues to build out his nominees and appointments for key agencies, such as the Department of Treasury, we will make sure we are continuing to express (our thoughts and positions) over and over again. We know we will have supporters of the credit union tax exemption, as well as those who are not as supportive. Demonstrating the value of the credit union tax exemption for the entire economy is going to be a big part of our messaging in 2025.”
Hunt added that among its priorities is continuing to look for opportunities to provide CUs with regulatory relief. She also emphasized that fraud continues to be the number-one issue credit unions are facing in terms of impacting how they serve their members.