WASHINGTON–A call by one congressman for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the CU tax exemption and credit union field of membership practices has elicited a response from NAFCU. As CUToday.info reported here, Rep. Steve King’s (R-IA) sent a letter to the House Ways and Means Committee urging Congress to update a 2006 GAO study.
In a letter to King, NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger stated that, "Luckily, our nation's 103 million credit union members (including 1.1 million in Iowa) were able to get financial services from their credit union during the (financial) crisis. A 2014 independent study found that Iowa consumers benefitted to the tune of $1.4 billion from the years 2005-2013 due to the presence of credit unions, and our nation's economy saw a benefit of nearly $17 billion per year.
"We must point out that NCUA has not implemented new field of membership rules for credit unions. While proposals have been made, they have not been finalized and are still open for modification and debate by the NCUA board," continued Berger. "It is true that credit union membership has grown, but mainly from consumers fleeing the predatory practices of banks and turning to credit unions."