NAFCU: Jacqueline Ramsay, jramsay@nafcu.org

CUNA: Lauren Williams, lwilliams@cuna.coop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 21, 2018

NAFCU, CUNA Call Out Bankers in Joint Letter to Hatch

WASHINGTON – The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) today in a joint letter to Senate Committee on Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch defended the credit union industry's tax exemption status, stating that recent information propagated by state bank associations criticizing this status is erroneous. The joint letter, which was also sent to members of the Senate, comes in response to a letter 52 state bank associations directed to Chairman Hatch.

CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle and NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger offer an explanation of why the banking industry wants the credit union tax status changed and why their position on the matter is misinformed.

"The banking lobbyists would like the tax status to be limited based on the products or services credit unions offer, the size of credit unions individually and as a sector of the financial services industry, their efforts to support their community and raise overall awareness, and other factors.  But these factors have nothing to do with why Congress originally conveyed the tax status, nor why it continues to be extended.  The fact is credit unions’ structure has not changed and they continue to fulfill their mission."

In addition, CUNA and NAFCU highlight egregious bank fines and settlements that have marred the banking industry and called on the banking groups to focus on mitigating their own issues as oppose to attacking credit unions.

"The numbers speak for themselves when you look at big bank fines and various settlements and buy-backs stemming from the financial crisis that total over $135 billion in penalties paid by big banks... The banks’ attack is the height of arrogance when you realize that a number of these settlements ended up being tax deductible for the banks!  Analysis of these settlements has estimated the tax break value of these settlements at over $17 billion, which is more than five times the estimated annual tax expenditure for the credit union tax exemption."

For the full letter, click here.

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ABOUT CUNA

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) is the only national association that advocates on behalf of all of America’s credit unions, which are owned by 110 million consumer members. CUNA, along with its network of affiliated state credit union leagues, delivers unwavering advocacy, continuous professional growth and operational confidence to protect the best interests of all credit unions. For more information about CUNA, visit cuna.org.

ABOUT NAFCU

The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation’s federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go to www.nafcu.org or @NAFCU on Twitter.