"This is one of those great opportunities to talk about the credit union difference," Patrick La Pine, president/CEO of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, said.

By now the story is familiar – the CFPB and other regulators last month fined Wells Fargo $100 million in connection with allegations that bank employees opened some two million phony accounts in order to meet sales goals.

As a result of those revelations, efforts to abolish the CFPB or severely limit its regulatory reach are doomed, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) told those attending NAFCU's Congressional Caucus last month.

"The CFPB is not going to be reined in anytime soon," he said.

Supporters will point to the Wells Fargo problems as a victory for regulators, Ryan Donovan, CUNA's chief advocacy officer, said.

"I'm certain they're going to make that argument," he added.

In fact, citing Wells Fargo, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton recently called for strengthening the CFPB and for banning the use of mandatory arbitration agreements in consumer contracts.

Wells Fargo has emphasized that customers who were victimized as a result of the fraudulent activity will remain bound by clauses in their financial contracts that prohibit them from suing the bank.

Instead, the customers will have to submit their disputes to an arbitrator.

Clinton cried foul.

"Too many of the rules and incentives in our economy encourage those at the top to abuse their power and take advantage of consumers, workers, small businesses and taxpayers," the Clinton campaign stated in a fact sheet as Clinton spoke at a campaign rally in Ohio.

Clinton said she would push Congress to ban the use of mandatory arbitration and would ensure that federal agencies use their authority to eliminate its use.

The CFPB already has issued proposed rules that would allow the use of arbitration in contracts, but also would require that consumers be given a choice between arbitration and filing suit.

Credit unions have argued that they should be exempt from those rules, since the culture of the institutions results in disputes between members and credit unions be solved amicably.

And that argument goes further. Credit unions and community banks have said they should be exempt from CFPB rules since they are not considered the bad guys in the financial services industry. After all, they say, big banks caused the financial crisis that resulted in Dodd-Frank and credit unions must continue to hammer that home even as the Wells Fargo scandal continues to unfold, officers from credit union trade groups said.

"Instances like this amplify the difference," Donovan said. "I think credit unions separate themselves from Wells Fargo every day. I think there's a lot of difference between Wells Fargo and credit unions."

Berger agreed, adding that credit unions "have been on Capitol Hill every day. We think we've been very successful."

He said that he has seen a change of attitude on Capitol Hill, and cited a recent announcement by Senate Financial Services Committee ranking Democrat Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a staunch supporter of the CFPB.

Waters said she would seriously consider introducing legislation next year that would exempt community banks and credit unions from certain CFPB rules.

Berger said Waters' support for such legislation, as well as the support from members of both parties, represents a transformation in attitudes.

La Pine said, however, that the Wells Fargo debacle could have an impact on regulatory relief efforts next year, such as the Dodd-Frank overhaul proposal by Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).

Hensarling introduced that legislation this year and passed it out of his committee. It did not go to the House floor and no companion bill that was introduced in the Senate.

However, Hensarling is expected to renew that effort next year.

LePine said many of the provisions of that legislation would loosen rules for community banks and credit unions, but not large banks.

He reiterated that such plans should not be derailed by the Wells Fargo scandal, as long as credit unions emphasize the differences between large banks and themselves.

"I really see this as an opportunity rather than a threat," La Pine added.

For their part, community bankers are fighting the same battle.

In his blog, Independent Community Bankers of America President/CEO Camden Fine vehemently pushed back against the notion that the Wells Fargo scandal could have happened at any bank.

"Suddenly this massive breach of trust isn't about Wells Fargo, but the banking industry in its entirety?" Fine asked. "Absolutely not! No! This isn't about 'any' bank or all banks. This isn't about universal condemnations of wrongdoing. And this certainly isn't about community banks, who remain, as always, accountable for their actions."

Fine said that in the past, the "consequences of megabank misdeeds rain down the hardest" on small financial institutions.

And he concluded with this declaration: "No, no, no — not again. We WILL NOT get dragged into this mess! Community banks are NOT Wells Fargo!"