WASHINGTON—A message regularly shared at CUNA’s GAC this year is that 2017 presents the chance for CUs to finally see some real regulatory relief from Washington.
Rod Staatz said that won’t happen, however, unless credit unions speak with a strong coherent voice.
The outgoing CUNA chair emphasized to attendees that the story that must be told “over and over” again is one based on facts—real examples of how regulatory changes resulting from Dodd-Frank are impacting credit unions’ ability to serve their members—and most important, how those changes are affecting members’ lives.
“Useful, unbiased information, that is what Congress wants,” said Staatz, also CEO of State Employees CU of Maryland in Baltimore. “Give them the facts in an honest way. Give them examples—when you say it takes you longer to make a loan, don’t only mention how that costs you more time and money, talk about how that can hurt members.”
Staatz said that issues raised or criticism presented to Congress of regulatory offices, such as the CFPB, must be framed around how the regulator is impacting consumers.
“Not only do we need useful unbiased information, we must get the specifics to Congress about what the CFPB, or NCUA are doing to impact your members,” said Staatz. “So we better make it clear that we are pro consumer—do otherwise when we knock the regulators and we may see a tweet or a social media post that says we are not pro consumer.”