WASHINGTON—A group of House representatives Tuesday reintroduced the “Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act,” which would exempt certain residential loans from credit unions’ federal statutory cap on member business lending.
Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Don Young (R-AK) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) reintroduced HR 389, which would remove loans to purchase non-owner-occupied, one- to four-unit dwellings from the calculation of credit union MBLs, which are capped by statute at 12.25% of assets.
Both NAFCU and CUNA thanked the congressmen for the action, which was backed by both trade groups.
“NAFCU and our members thank Reps. Ed Royce, Jared Huffman, Don Young, and Peter DeFazio for their backing of credit unions’ member business lending efforts,” said NAFCU president and CEO Dan Berger. “We strongly urge other members of Congress to support and cosponsor the bill, which would provide credit unions with more flexibility within their lending cap and help them better serve small business owners’ critical capital needs.”
NAFCU has long held that removing or modifying the credit union MBL cap would help provide economic stimulus by allowing small businesses more access to credit without costing taxpayers a dime, the trade association stated.
“This CUNA-backed bipartisan legislation would enable credit unions to better serve their members who purchase rental properties, and will benefit consumers at large by increasing the availability of affordable rental housing,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “We thank the representatives for their help to bring parity to credit unions, and look forward to working with members of Congress to advance this legislation.”