U.S. Capitol building. Credit/Shutterstock
Typically each year, the credit union industry concerns itself with ensuring credit unions on military bases continue doing business as usual as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). This year's legislative discussions have added some new wrinkles with the Credit Card Competition Act of 2023 legislation potentially being added as an amendment to the FY2024 NDAA.
The credit union trade organizations and nearly all banking industry groups are strongly opposed to any such idea.
A letter to lawmakers sent Friday by CUNA, NAFCU, the Defense Credit Union Council and seven banking organizations stated their opposition of the proposed amendment of the Credit Card Competition Act (CCCA) to the NDAA as an impractical, technically-flawed and unnecessary approach.
According to the letter, while such an amendment has yet to be filed, it appears likely as senators have filed an amendment to require a study on credit and debit card user fees on military bases.
The letter said, "These non-germane amendments will rob military families of their credit card rewards, reduce the availability of safe credit, and undermine the nation's data security. They have been filed with the goal of enriching the largest multinational retailers and obscure payments processors and have no business being added to annual legislation designed to bolster our national defense. Both proposals are complex and flawed and in need of the scrutiny of regular order in the respective committees of jurisdiction. These highly contentious and divisive amendments directly involve the interests of various committees with judicial, federal prudential, and international trade oversight."
The groups argued adding the CCCA to the NDAA will do much more harm than good as it relates to helping military members and their families.
"The CCCA will not increase competition in the credit card marketplace, but it will benefit multi- national retailers at the expense of consumers and community financial institutions, including those serving members of the military," the letter stated. "It does so by reducing the number of credit card issuers competing for consumers' business, removing a consumer's choice of preferred card network, reducing the competitive differences among card products, limiting popular credit card rewards programs, and putting the nation's private-sector payments system under the micromanagement of the Federal Reserve Board. It will also make it more difficult for merchants and federally-insured financial institutions to prevent fraud and protect the transaction data."
Credit union officials are keeping an eye out on NDAA discussions this week in the Senate as lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill before heading out for the long August recess.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
