As more than 5,000 credit union leaders from around the country converge on Washington for the 2018 CUNA GAC, we'll be using this opportunity to address threats and legal actions from unscrupulous lawyers abusing the Americans with Disabilities Act, an important law created to protect vulnerable consumers.

Unfortunately, predatory law firms are taking advantage of ambiguities about whether there are requirements under the ADA for website accessibility. Thousands of credit unions around the country have received demand letters and have even had suits filed against them, alleging their website is not in compliance with the ADA.

Credit unions are then faced with an extraordinary problem because the Department of Justice has not specifically spelled out any requirements for websites and the ADA does not speak on this issue. Accordingly, while courts have identified certain compliance standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WGAC 2.0), it is impossible to know exactly what a credit union needs to do, or should have been doing.