Any forecast for 2008 would be incomplete without considering the events of this past year. Without question, 2007 will be remembered as the year of the subprime meltdown.

The subprime crisis swept in like a tidal wave, resulting in a groundswell of activity in Washington — from the White House, Congress and the Treasury — to address the situation. The Federal Reserve has also acted to stem a possible recession by cutting interest rates several times. At NAFCU, we have been actively involved, working with Congress and the regulatory agencies on a solution while ensuring that policymakers and the media understand that credit unions are doing their part to help fix a problem they did not create.

In fact, NAFCU worked day and night to help broker a compromise along with consumer groups and Congress on the mortgage bankruptcy bill (H.R. 3609) in the hopes of limiting its scope to just subprime, non-traditional loans. Though we continue to have reservations about other aspects of the bill, NAFCU's goal has been to ensure that in the process of helping consumers stay above water, credit unions are recognized as a solution and not swept up in a maelstrom of new regulatory burdens.