Credit Unions Need FOM Relief

I was very pleased to see in your story on regulatory relief in the July 25 issue Bob Harvey and Gordon Dames express their thoughts on solving one of the most onerous issues facing credit unions today…field of membership. This has to be one of the most expensive, time consuming and aggravating problems credit unions, state leagues, national trade associations and regulators deal with day in and day out. Instead of trying to eliminate the core problem, it seems as though we are content to simply argue about it, usually in court and at great expense. I believe it is time to divert the resources we use in fighting the issue to mounting a campaign to eliminate “FOM” from the FCU Act and our vocabulary, and here’s why.

Credit unions have been helping consumers for over 150 years, quite often when other financial institutions would not. We consistently get better marks for service than banks and can prove on any given day that we offer a better deal on most all products and services. We are not-for-profit financial cooperatives with earnings going back into the credit union for the benefits of members. Regulators want us to serve the underserved but in many cases we are unable to do so because of FOM restrictions. Bankers want us to stop “cherry picking” and serve more individuals of modest means yet they sue us over expansions.