The NCUA reminded credit unions on Tuesday to file their call reports before the April 25 deadline to avoid penalties.

The message was sent through the agency's CU Express notification system to the credit unions' board of directors and chief executive officer.

“This is a reminder that the deadline for submitting first quarter 2014 Call Report and Profile information is Friday, April 25th (11:59:59 pm, Eastern Daylight Time),” the message said. “Credit unions failing to meet the filing deadline are potentially subject to civil money penalties.”

In January, the NCUA announced its decision to impose penalties of up to $1 million per day against credit unions that miss the April 25 deadline for filing call reports. 

“If there was a better way, I would like for somebody to tell me what it is because we have been warning credit unions and discussing this issue with them for a very long time,” Matz told CU Times. “I was really astounded to discover that there were over 1,700 credit unions that filed late last quarter and many of them were chronic late filers and in fact the number had gone up significantly year over year.”

Matz added that the NCUA is not able to do its job if the credit union data comes in late.