CUNA wrote to President-elect Biden urging the new administration to consider the impact any policy changes will have on credit unions’ ability to serve their members. CUNA’s recommendations include continued actions from NCUA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), as well as recommendations in the housing and diversity, equity, and inclusion arena.
“CUNA strongly encourages this new administration to support and implement further COVID-recovery legislation and policies in 2021 and beyond to ensure credit unions remain in a position to serve their members throughout and after the COVID-19 pandemic,” the letter reads.
CUNA
continues to encourage the NCUA to:
- Refrain from National Credit
Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) premium assessments;
- Temporarily exclude certain
low-risk assets from the net worth ratio;
- Remove obstacles to consumers
accessing the Payday Alternative Loans I Program;
- Allow the use of temporary
asset thresholds; and
- Quickly review pending
rulemakings.
CUNA
recommendations to the CFPB include broad ones, as well as recommendations for
specific regulations:
- Avoid implementing new rules
that would unnecessarily tie-up compliance resources or add to regulatory
burden;
- Suspend unnecessary onsite
examination activities and reduce the frequency of requests for
examination-related information;
- Expand “good faith efforts to
comply” supervision policies to additional areas where credit unions are
acting swiftly to assist members in need;
- Coordinate with other federal
banking regulators, especially the NCUA, to issue up-to-date guidance on
mortgage servicing; and
- Effectively use its
statutory authority to appropriately tailor regulations to reduce burden
or exempt credit unions entirely, as appropriate;
CUNA
also covers several specific regulations and actions the CFPB should take:
Remittances
- Increase the “normal course of business” safe harbor threshold from 500, as finalized, to 1,000 remittance transfers; and
- Eliminate the 30-minute cancellation requirement or provide consumers the ability to opt-out of the mandated waiting period
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA)
- Allow reporting for Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) to once again be voluntary;
- Reduce the HMDA data set for credit unions to only data points specifically required by current statute;
- Increase further the open-end line of credit and closed-end mortgage loan reporting thresholds to exempt credit unions with smaller mortgage lending portfolios from HMDA reporting; and
- Alter the approach to the privacy balancing test used to determine which HMDA data points will be made available to the public in favor of consumer privacy.
Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive
Acts or Practices (UDAAP)
- Solicit stakeholder feedback on an ongoing basis to determine whether the “abusiveness” standard being applied is clear and whether a rulemaking is necessary;
- Clarify that previous enforcement actions or consent orders that conflict with statutory or judicial precedent create no new expectations for compliance; and
- Clarify its authority under the Dodd-Frank Act in regulating the business of insurance and reaffirm that UDAAP is not a backdoor to regulate insurance activities.
The
letter also notes credit unions’ critical role in the housing markets, and
suggests the following priorities:
- Include mortgage payment
assistance to borrowers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis in any stimulus
package;
- Include temporary liquidity
assistance for mortgage servicers in any stimulus package
- Ensure the Federal Housing
Finance Agency’s (FHFA) recapitalization plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac are phased in on a schedule that prevents disruption of the secondary
mortgage market; and
- Any amendments to existing
housing finance reform plans should ensure that the secondary market
remains open to lenders of all sizes on an equitable basis, without
allowing Fannie and Freddie to provide discounts based on volume or
otherwise charge higher fees to smaller lenders such as credit unions.
CUNA
also highlights its commitment, and that of its members, to ensure DEI plays a
role in every aspect of the financial services sector.
“Credit
unions and all in the financial services sector, including our regulators, must
be intentional about increasing diversity and inclusion at leadership, board,
and staff levels to continue to reach and better serve an increasingly diverse
population and enhance financial inclusion for all,” the letter reads. “We look
forward to working with the new administration, Congress and federal regulators
as we continue to make diversity, equity, and inclusion an industry top
priority.”