Kanjo Introduces Credit Union Relief Act

Congressman Paul Kanjorski has introduced a bill designed to provide regulatory relief to credit unions.  It provides more competitive advantages for these non profit members of the banking sector in a time when commercial banks are squeezing customers with huge fees to recoup the gargantuan losses suffered by their own bad decisions.  If these enable more people to have access to credit unions as an alternative to banks I'm all for it.  It was one thing to get nickle and dimed by my bank but now we're talking about dollars.

I bank with Sovereign and lately I cannot even use most of the ATM's because they are being designed for SUV drivers.  Unable to reach the buttons I've had to resort to the credit union cash dispensers at Wawa.  Sovereign then penalizes me for using an out of service ATM.  If a credit union becomes convenient for me guess what happens to my Sovereign accounts after this treatment?  (I also know several Sovereign employees read this blog daily so let's see some action).

“The Credit Union Regulatory Relief Act would help credit unions to better serve their 90 million members,” said Chairman Kanjorski.  “This bill also addresses the concerns of many credit unions by allowing them to expand into underserved areas and support community development.  During this time of economic uncertainty, we need to take action in Washington to help promote the economy.  This bill would help to achieve that goal.”

Chairman Kanjorski added, “The movement of credit union reforms is not a one-step process and it may take several phases.  I aim to move quickly forward with consideration of H.R. 5519.  The swift adoption of this legislation will allow us to continue to work on enacting the many other important legislative reforms contained in CURIA, but not contained in this new bill.  These additional reforms include lifting the cap on member business lending, establishing a modern risk-based capital system for credit unions, and enhancing standards to ensure that the opinions of a greater majority of credit union members are registered during conversion votes.”

A section-by-section of the new credit union regulatory relief bill is attached, but some key aspects of H.R. 5519 include:

• Underserved Areas. The legislation would permit all credit unions, rather than only credit unions with a multiple common bonds, to expand their services into underserved areas.  It would also exempt business loans made to members within underserved areas from the existing business lending caps.
• Non-Profit Religious Organizations. The legislation would support the community development work of non-profit religious institutions by excluding such loans from credit union business lending caps.
• Flexibility on Interest Rates. The bill would provide the National Credit Union Administration with increased flexibility to determine the interest rates on loans from federal credit unions based either on sustained increases in money market interest rates or prevailing interest rate levels.
• Investment Options. The legislation would authorize credit unions to invest in non-stock, investment-grade securities totaling up to 10 percent of the credit union’s net worth.

Comments

[Jim]

John, I will never understand why everybody doesn’t belong to a credit union. I have been with Riverfront since I was a kid (it was called Conrail-Amtrak FCU back then; my dad was a Teamster and he got me an account there) and I cannot praise them enough.

[John Morgan]

Convenience has been the deciding factor for me. Sovereign has a branch in Oley so I can stop at the bank when I'm at the post office. There aren't any credit unions anywhere nearby. This convenience is the only thing keeping me with this bank.