WASHINGTON–The Senate announced it will give floor consideration to S 2155, the credit union-backed Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, which also has the backing of community banks.
"America's credit unions thank Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for their help in getting this important piece of legislation to the floor," said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle in a statement. "This carefully crafted bill includes commonsense improvements that will allow community banks and credit unions to better serve their customers. We strongly urge for the enactment of S 2155 as this bill is vital to small businesses, consumers and community-based financial institutions."
CUNA said its efforts and those of its affiliated CUs have generated over 30,000 messages to Senators urging their support for S 2155.
The bill includes:
- The Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act, which would allow credit unions to treat loans for one-to-four-unit, non-owner-occupied dwellings that qualify for the MBL exemption as residential loans with lower interest rates – similar to how banks make these loans to small businesses.
- The Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act, which would exempt depository institutions that have originated fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit and closed-end mortgages in the previous two years from certain HMDA reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Additional provisions in Title I of the package would provide credit unions with regulatory relief from various Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and TILA/Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) integrated mortgage disclosure rule provisions, NAFCU noted.
“Two credit union-relevant provisions were also added when the bill passed out of the Senate Banking Committee in December: One that would require the NCUA to publish a detailed budget and hold a public hearing to receive comments from the public on its budget annually, and another that would clarify and streamline the process for establishing online banking accounts,” NAFCU reminded in its analysis.
NAFCU said that its lobbyists will continue to engage with lawmakers to ensure they understand the benefits the legislation would provide to the nation's credit unions and consumers.
As this legislation moves forward, Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI) warned CUs during CUNA’s GAC this week that it’s not a good time to bicker with banks, as that could get squarely in the way of regulatory relief.
“There are so many big things to get done that we need both banks and credit unions to work together on,” said Duffy. “(House Financial Services Committee) Chairman (Jeb) Hensarling (R-TX) said we are not dealing with issues that are dividing credit unions and banks now. So, we need all of you to dance together on the regulatory relief side. If you all start fighting and we lose focus on some of the broader issues, I don’t think we get anything done.”
As CUToday.info reported, the Independent Community Bankers of America is calling on Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to convene a hearing on the credit union tax exemption. The request by the ICBA follows in the wake of dueling letters from banking groups and credit union associations over the tax exemption.