WASHINGTON (2/11/16)--Credit Union National Association (CUNA) President/CEO Jim Nussle said he was “deeply troubled” by the misinterpretation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) exemption authority, as expressed by Director Richard Cordray Tuesday.

Nussle sent an immediate letter of concern to the CFPB Wednesday, after Cordray’s remarks that came during a joint agency webinar with National Credit Union Administration Chair Debbie Matz.

During the webinar, Cordray was asked whether the CFPB would exempt credit unions from CFPB rulemakings.

“We aren't at liberty to simply exempt credit unions entirely from consumer protection laws and rules. I believe Congress has precluded us from doing that,” Cordray said.

Nussle said the director's interpretation could not only unduly burden credit unions, but is contradicted with a "plain reading of the statute," and also by "a number of legal opinions from industry experts, including some who previously served at the CFPB, as well as by Congress itself."

Nussle included attachments of the referred-to legal opinions in his letter, and also set out clear language from the Dodd-Frank Act, which states:

"The bureau, by rule, may conditionally or unconditionally exempt any class of covered persons, service providers, or consumer financial products or services, from any provision of this title, or from any rule issued under this title, as the Bureau determines necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes and objectives of this title, taking into consideration the factors in subparagraph (B)."

Subparagraph (B) calls for the bureau to take into consideration:

• The total assets of the class of covered persons;
   
• The volume of transactions involving consumer financial products or services in which the class of covered persons engages; and
   
• Existing provisions of law which are applicable to the consumer financial product or service and the extent to which such provisions provide consumers with adequate protections.