WASHINGTON–America’s Credit Unions new chief advocacy officer has outlined what she said credit unions are going to need to do to advance CU priorities on both Capitol Hill and state legislatures.
Carrie Hunt, who was CEO of the Virginia league prior to joining America’s Credit Unions as its new chief advocacy officer, and who had a long career with NAFCU prior to that, told the meeting that “advocacy starts local, it ends local. It starts in neighborhoods, goes to top levels, and then back to neighborhoods.”
Hunt said she is enthused about the mission of America’s Credit Unions, which is to be an advocate to advance an environment for credit unions to thrive.
And a big part of creating that environment, she said, will be played by advocacy.
“It's engagement. It's relationship building. It's grassroots. It's campaigns. It's data. It's money. It's timing,” said Hunt. “You have to keep going when you want to stop. You have to know when to push. Most importantly, you have to have the right agenda.”
What Group Must Do
To that end, Hunt the trade group and America’s Credit Unions must:
- Address all branches of government. “With the judicially, we have to protect credit unions from frivolous lawsuits. We have to be judicious in our defense and targeted in our offense. On the regulatory side, we have to make sure regulators know how they impact our operations.”
- We need to build relationships. “This takes a network. We need to teach credit union professionals how to make the ask for support when the time is right.”
- We have to make the policy case. “Stories are helpful. We have the better story than banks and we need to shout it form the rooftops.”
- We must create champions. “Together we can put credit union champions in office.”
- We have to be organized to engage our whole strength. “We are now a single trade (group) to put our resources in one spot.
- We’ve got to win for our members.
Facts that Need Repeating
According to Hunt, facts that need to be repeated include:
- Despite FOM restrictions, in mortgage lending, credit unions lead banks in115 of 159 key metrics
- “Banks sell to credit unions at a minuscule rate. We’re not the competition.”
- Banks closed 19,000 branches at the same time credit unions opened 1,300 net branches.
- Credit unions follow the same consumer laws as banks and are heavily regulated and examined
- Banks have incurred more than $250 billion in fines since the Great recession, a recession “caused by greedy banks lending to individuals who could not afford loans.”
Fees, Fees, Fees
Hunt also took aim at fees, which have been in the crosshairs of both the CFPB and NCUA. The issue came up numerous times during GAC, with TruStage CEO Terrance Williams announcing during the meeting that the company was pledging $250,000 to fund the response to the attack on fees.
“It’s no secret the CFPB wants to eliminate fees,” Hunt said. “Most recently this has been the war on overdrafts. I think we have to tell the story that not all fees are abusive, some of it is the cost of doing business. The CFPB has put out multiple reports on overdraft based on bank data. It shows the CFPB knows how to manipulate data. It also shows that with frequent users, we might want to look at that. That’s what credit unions are doing already. It’s up to credit unions to decide how to serve their members. Credit unions have responsible loans and more. Not all consumers want that. Some want overdraft protection on their accounts.”
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