SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – For federal credit unions approaching their 12.25% member business lending cap, at least one NCUA Board member is empathetic to those that have been waiting for a long time on whether their waiver request will be granted. Grace Mayo, president/CEO of Telesis Community Credit Union, told symposium attendees that during a meeting at CUNA's Governmental Affairs Conference in February, NCUA Vice Chairman Rodney Hood said he did not have a problem expediting MBL waiver requests from credit unions that have five years of strong business lending experience and are very well-capitalized. "He didn't have a problem with the request," Mayo said. "It would free up NCUA's regulatory burdens so they're not bottlenecked." Mayo said it's not unheard of to have waiver requests "sit on a desk for six to 18 months" with some not having been addressed at all. Ideally, a 30 to 45 day window from submittal to decision is being discussed with credit union trade groups, she added. Depending on the outcome, Mayo is hoping the same format can be sent to state regulators for adoption. When the roughly 70 attendees during this particular session on business lending challenges and successes were asked if they were near their MBL caps, nearly a dozen hands went up. "CURIA will help us get to 20%," Mayo said, continuing to urge support of the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act legislation. Mayo said she told Hood that a lot of credit unions do indeed have the five years of business lending experience under their belt but "now the handcuffs have been put on." She urged state-chartered credit unions nearing their cap to apply for waivers now. Mayo said she "was a little pensive before meeting Rodney" but had a better idea of who he was given his commercial banking background among other traits. -

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