COVID Relief Must Empower Credit Unions to Serve

Despite the global pandemic, credit unions’ voices will not go silent. This week, hundreds of credit union leaders from across the county will join with NAFCU to bring the credit union message directly to the virtual doorsteps of congressional leaders.

Our message: As credit unions have stepped up for their members during the pandemic, policymakers must step up for credit unions and the 121 million Americans they serve.

Earlier this year, the coronavirus pandemic caught our nation flat footed and forced us to adapt rapidly to a changing economic environment. Yet credit unions immediately modified their products and services by offering skip-a-pay options, fee waivers, low or no-interest loans, loan modifications, no interest accruals, drive-thru services and other beneficial financial solutions to help their members.

When small businesses needed access to the SBA’s paycheck protection program loans, credit unions persisted through website crashes and glitches to process their members’ loan applications. And when banks turned away customers, credit unions reached out with a helping hand to offer support.

That is the credit union way – to always put people well ahead of profit. This is exactly why credit unions should be a key part of the solution as Congress debates additional coronavirus relief legislation.

Since the pandemic began, NAFCU has been working within the Washington beltway to ensure credit unions have a seat at the table and that our industry’s voice is heard. To date, we have helped secure many wins for the credit union industry – but we will continue to push for more.

This includes member business lending and capital reforms, automatic forgiveness of PPP loans under $150,000, and increasing funding for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to help low-income communities. These are policy reforms we will be sure to raise in our virtual meetings this week with lawmakers and their staff on Capitol Hill.

But while we push for policies that would ultimately be beneficial to our local communities, we must remain vigilant against proposals that would be bad policy, such as postal banking programs, expanding the Durbin Amendment’s interchange price caps and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s consideration of a payments charter. More so, efforts to grant the NCUA supervisory powers over third-party vendors would be wholly unnecessary and create substantial new costs for credit unions amid a recession and global pandemic.

In times of crisis, it is important that we deliver policies that are beneficial to the millions of Americans being impacted by the economic crisis and the virus itself. These proposals should give policymakers significant pause – if not their flat-out rejection.

Strong leadership begins with strong solutions, and reforms that empower credit unions to serve more American consumers are the types of policies we need from lawmakers during this pivotal moment. With the presidential election fast approaching, we wrote to President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden to share credit union priorities.

We look forward to engaging with lawmakers, alongside our credit union members, to advocate for positive, consumer-focused reforms as we join together at NAFCU’s Congressional Caucus event.

Credit unions must be empowered to serve more Americans.

Carrie Hunt is EVP of Government Affairs and General Counsel for NAFCU in Washington, D.C.