NAFCU Calls for Congressional Probe of Banker Activities, Including Secretive Website

NAFCU President/CEO B. Dan Berger on Thursday called on a House subcommittee to investigate anti-credit union activities by banks, including a secretive website that has been operated by the American Bankers Association.

The CU Times reported on Wednesday that the website, explorecreditunions.com, which had been registered through a proxy, was changed to show that the American Bankers Association owned and operated the site.

“Unfortunately, while credit unions are busy focusing on serving their 117 million members, bankers continue to put resources into attacks on credit unions in an effort to eliminate competition, despite continuing profits,” Berger said in a letter to Rep. Al Green (D-Tx.), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

In the letter, which also was sent to the panel’s ranking Republican, Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.), Berger asked the subcommittee to examine “questionable activities such as this website and ask, what other anti-consumer efforts are the banks secretly funding.”

The letter also was sent to the Justice Department.

Berger said that if bankers had paid as much attention to themselves, the financial crisis might not have grown so large. He said that banks have paid more than $200 billion in fines and settlements as a result of their activities during the crisis.

The ABA took the website down following inquiries by the CU Times.

An association spokesperson said it was taken down as the association updates its presence on the internet. The ABA this week announced a redesign of its main website.

While the website had been taken down, the explorecreditunions.com Facebook page and Twitter feed remain online.

In several email exchanges with the CU Times, the ABA did not answer questions about why the association did not disclose its ownership on the website.