Commentary

Paul Gentile's Aug. 28 column on private insurance admonishes credit union leaders to "cut out the politics and look at the real issue." On this point I believe Paul is right, since that has been NAFCU's aim all along in advocating that every credit union, regardless of charter type, be...

Americans from all walks of life are benefiting from a strong, resilient, and dynamic economy, which boasts nearly six years of uninterrupted growth.

After 18 months of inertia, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has finally done something: succumb to pressure from Wall Street. On August 17, the Fed cut the discount rate 50 basis points (b.p.), to 5.75%, in the first inter-meeting move since 9/11, after the $33 billion excess it pumped into the...

Since applying federal corporate taxation to credit unions would expose significant risk to the insurance fund by reducing annual reserves by over 30%, it is only natural that credit union leaders have recently been looking out the window to see if the wolf's recent huffing and puffing about taxes is...

For more than 25 years, credit unions have used multi-featured, open-end lending as their preferred method to make non-real estate, secured consumer loans. Approximately half of all credit unions use this lending approach, and about 60% of credit unions with assets of more than $100 million use multi-featured, open-end lending...

Wal-Mart made news last month when it announced an expansion of its check-cashing and money order services and the rollout of a prepaid debit card for its customers. At first blush, this sounds like good news for consumers since Wal-Mart estimates that its fees would be about 25 to 50%...

Many industry observers believe the credit union industry is at a crossroads. While "they" may have disagreements about the whys and the wherefores of the matter, nearly all industry participants are in agreement that credit unions must grow in order to survive. This means coasting along doing business as usual...

Business lending for credit unions presents great opportunities--it also presents some significant challenges.