While a member of the NCUA board, I was the only board member who spoke against a proposed rule that would have required home-based credit unions to obtain commercial space for their operations or face closure. Advocates for the rule cited examiner safety, lack of bathroom facilities, inadequate working space, everyday access to the credit union and the inability for the credit union to grow.

The proponents of the rule forgot an important historical point. Credit unions had their start at a kitchen table where founding members put in $5, $10 or $20 bills to begin a cooperative venture, enabling people to save as well as make loans to those who needed to borrow. It was the beginning of the people helping people philosophy that enabled the credit union movement to grow and prosper.

They forgot that credit unions were established to serve specific groups: Members of a church or fraternal organization, individuals who live in a certain community, those who worked for a specific employer and others who shared a common purpose.