Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) today introduced an updated version of the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act. Sen. Warren initially planned to expand the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to include new requirements for credit unions. Instead the bill codifies the existing National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) regulations that dictate how credit unions serve underserved communities.
“We're thankful to Senator Warren for recognizing the many ways that credit unions support underserved communities, and for providing a path to codifying the regulations that have guided our movement for over two decades,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “We look forward to collaborating with her and other allies of the credit union movement to solidify the good work that credit unions are doing to uplift communities that are too often ignored and underserved by banks and other financial institutions.”
Due to their not-for-profit, cooperative nature, credit unions have always served their members, no matter their background or income levels. Congress has considered whether the CRA should apply to credit unions, consistently maintained the determination that such application is not only unnecessary, but counter-intuitive given the member-owned nature of credit unions.
CUNA maintains that credit unions are financial cooperatives that exist solely to provide pooled funds for member-owners and should be treated as the good actors they are. The trade association collaborated with League partners and Sen. Warren to show the many ways that credit unions have been fulfilling requirements to support underserved communities for well over two decades.
Chief Advocacy Officer, Ryan Donovan penned an opinion editorial for The Hill in October 2018, noting that Sen. Warren’s initial proposal to place credit unions under the CRA would be a step backward in access to affordable mortgage credit. CUNA sent a letter of support for the 2019 American Housing and Economic Mobility Act.