WASHINGTON— The Defense Credit Union Council is intensifying its push for explicit credit union inclusion in the Trump Administration’s mortgage lending deregulation effort, with Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak suggesting community bankers had an outsized role in shaping the executive order while credit unions risk being left on the sidelines.
Speaking during DCUC’s Monday morning press call, Stverak said the trade group praised the White House’s executive order on mortgage affordability in comments filed Friday, but also separately raised concerns with the Administration over what he described as the limited mention—or complete lack of explicit inclusion—of credit unions in the policy rollout.
“We’ve seen with this Administration that there appears to be a preference toward banks,” Stverak said, arguing the order is framed largely around “the banking industry and the problems banks face, with credit unions treated as an afterthought at best.”
Stverak said those concerns were heightened after community banker and Citizens Bank of Edmond CEO Jill Castilla publicly celebrated her role in the policy’s development. In a post on X, Castilla wrote, “It’s been one of the greatest honors of my career to work on this executive order expanding access to mortgage credit,” adding that one of the highlights was increasing the competitiveness of service members using VA loans.
Stverak said that when community bank leaders are “taking a victory lap” over helping draft the EO, it reinforces the perception that bankers were “in the room with the pen” while credit unions were not.
At the same time, Stverak said DCUC was encouraged by recent comments from House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill and Rep. Andy Barr that referenced both community banks and credit unions in discussing mortgage relief, suggesting there may be an opening for more explicit parity as the policy moves from White House directive to agency action. He added that Hill’s background in community banking may help explain why banks have been more visible in the discussion, but said the answer is not to oppose bank relief—it is to make sure credit unions are equally understood and included.
That theme was echoed by Greg Mesack, America’s Credit Unions’ SVP of advocacy, who said during ACU’s Monday morning media call that Hill’s personal experience likely gives him “a little more of a sympathy towards community banks,” while also stressing he would not characterize that as bias against credit unions.
Mesack said community banks have done “a very good job of making themselves a sympathetic audience,” and argued that credit unions must do a better job telling their own story and educating policymakers about the similar challenges they face.
“It’s incumbent on all of us to go out there and tell our stories…so we can raise awareness of the challenges of the credit union space as well,” he said.
America’s Credit Unions, however, is taking a more optimistic tone on the order itself.
“I think there’s a lot of exciting feedback from the credit union space about relief that we see out of this executive order coming forward,” ACU President/CEO Scott Simpson said on Monday’s media call, adding that several of the EO’s provisions align with reforms ACU has been pressing for, including changes related to HMDA thresholds and mortgage capital treatment.
As CUToday.info previously reported, ACU has said it believes credit unions are covered because the National Credit Union Administration is specifically named in the executive order, even as the White House’s public messaging has repeatedly emphasized “banks” and “community banks.”
As CUToday.info also reported, DCUC has sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking for clarification that the executive order is intended to benefit both community banks and credit unions equally. Stverak said that when policymakers discuss mortgage-affordability relief for community based lenders, credit unions should be explicitly included alongside banks—especially given that credit unions serve more than 145 million Americans nationwide.
Stverak’s latest remarks sharpen DCUC’s broader warning: while the executive order directs regulators to revisit mortgage rules affecting smaller lenders—including documentation standards, HMDA reporting, appraisal requirements and broader mortgage finance policies—the political and public framing has so far tilted heavily toward banks.