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"It is perfectly acceptable for credit unions to evolve – the whole financial services industry looks different than it did in 1934. Credit unions need to remain relevant to consumers in order to fulfill their mission, and they’re working to remain relevant within a charter that is overly restrictive and burdensome," stated Jim Nussle, President/CEO of the Credit Union National Association, in a letter sent to Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The letter was in response to a letter that Sen. Hatch sent to the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) expressing concerns about "the credit union industry's evolution in ways that take many credit unions further from their original tax-exempt purpose."
Senator Hatch's letter to NCUA Chairman McWatters put forth a series of questions that the Committee wants responses to by April 6, 2018. "Recent actions by the NCUA have further relaxed field of membership constraints, opened the door to the use of alternative capital, and lifted limits on other activity, such as business lending, which has traditionally been less associated with the mission of tax-exempt credit unions. To assist the Committee in better understanding NCUA's role and policy with respect to overseeing credit unions, please provide answers to the questions asked in this letter."
Nussle provided responses to all seven questions that Senator Hatch posed in the letter to the NCUA, and reiterated the credit union mission and stated that its relevance is as "strong as ever. "As the only depositor-owned, democratically controlled option in financial services, credit unions' mission is to promote thrift and provide access to credit for members, particularly those of modest means. That's a mission they have fulfilled for more than 70 years, through multiple financial crises, and it's a mission that remains unchanged today. As the prudential regulator for the credit union system, NCUA has done nothing more than ensure its rules and regulations are compatible with the modern financial services landscape, allowing credit union members and member business easier access to safe and affordable products and services, a demand that's increasing as credit union membership continues to grow faster than the general population."
Todd Mason, President of the Maine CU League, said that letters like the one Senator Hatch sent "reinforces the importance of strong advocacy. While we have been fortunate to have strong support from our Congressional Delegation on the CU tax-exemption, we must remain vigilant in highlighting the reasons why we are tax exempt and the benefits that credit unions provide to consumers as a result. I will certainly remind our Delegation, while they are having breakfast with more than 100 credit union representatives from Maine at the League's Breakfast with Maine's Congressional Delegation, that Maine consumers saved $57 million last year by using a credit union."
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