110th CONGRESS, LEGISLATIVE ISSUES A - Z

March 23, 2007

The Honorable
U.S. House of Representatives

Dear Representative:

On behalf of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and America’s nearly 89 million credit union members, I am writing to urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 1537, the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act of 2007. This legislation, often referred to by its acronym, CURIA, was recently introduced by Representatives Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) and Ed Royce (R-CA).

Credit unions work every day to help improve the lives of millions of Americans from all walks of life. They provide access to modern and affordable financial services through lower rates on loans and higher returns on savings. How is this possible? As not-for-profit financial cooperatives, credit unions do not issue stock or pay interest to shareholders. At a credit union every customer is a member and owner. The mission of credit unions is to serve their members, not to prey on people who are struggling, as we have seen in Congressional hearings focused on predatory lending practices

By co-sponsoring CURIA, you will be helping credit unions continue their mission of serving working families, making needed services available to lower-income or underserved consumers and helping promote economic growth and well being in all our nation’s communities. Specifically, CURIA will modernize credit union capital standards to permit more efficient capital management while allowing more earnings to be returned to members in lower costs and expanded services. It will expand the ability of credit unions to make loans to finance their members’ local small businesses. It will permit more credit unions to offer needed services in lower-income communities that are not adequately served by other depository institutions. And it will improve the quality of services to credit union members by updating or removing burdensome regulations.

CUNA appreciates your past support of credit unions and urges you to show your continuing support by co-sponsoring H.R. 1537 to permit credit unions to serve their millions of members more efficiently and effectively well into the 21st century.

We thank you for your consideration of the CURIA legislation and look forward to working with you on this and other important legislation in the 110th Congress.

Sincerely,

Daniel A. Mica
President & CEO

Copyright © 2008 - Credit Union National Association, Inc.