RALEIGH, N.C.–Over the opposition of the state’s banking industry, North Carolina’s House of Representatives has voted to pass House Bill 410, “Credit Union Update” by an 85-25 margin.
The bill grants permission to credit unions to accept as members people below the poverty line and residents of “banking deserts.”
In their lobbying for passage of the bill, the state’s credit unions and the Carolinas Credit Union League had noted banks in the Tarheel State have closed more than 600 branches since 2011, many of them in rural parts of the state. In turn, the state’s CUs said the not-for-profit cooperatives “have the right model and the desire to serve North Carolinians with dwindling financial services options. House Bill 410 would permit them to do so.”
CCUL CEO Dan Schline thanked legislators in the state for “granting permission to credit unions to serve consumers of modest means. Not-for-profit credit unions have served North Carolinians humbly and faithfully for more than 100 years, and we wish to continue that history.”
While some have suggested House Bill 410 would allow “anybody in the world” to join a North Carolina credit union, the league responded by saying “that’s not true.” The CCUL noted the bill extends membership only to those living below the poverty line and residents of “banking deserts,” defined as areas without a bank branch within roughly 200 square miles.
Other Provisions
According to the CCUL, in addition to offering financial services to rural residents, House Bill 410 also:
- Modernizes some credit union laws that haven’t been updated since the 1970s. For example, it allows credit unions to keep records electronically
- Streamlines the process through which state-chartered credit unions can gain permission to operate in ways already allowable for federally-chartered credit unions
- Strengthens the powers of the North Carolina’s credit union regulator, which also haven’t been updated since the 1970s
As CUToday.info earlier reported here, there has been a “long simmering back and forth” between the state’s bankers and credit unions.