CUNA applauds these steps by Chairman Fryzel and the National Credit Union Administration to address challenges presented to corporate and natural person credit unions as the result of a frozen securities market. However, there are many issues underlying these latest efforts by the agency, including whether natural person credit unions will participate in a significant way. We are just now learning of the details of these programs; we will be evaluating their usefulness and reporting to our members on our resulting analysis.

We think it also vital that the agency brings equal inventiveness and flexibility to the burdens weighing on some natural person credit unions, especially in those parts of the country where the mortgage and credit crises have inflicted extensive collateral damage. CUNA has been urging NCUA to take such action for a number of weeks.