The House intends to vote on the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) next week, as early as Tuesday, according to numerous reports. CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle is urging credit unions to make a final push to encourage members of Congress to support the bill.

“We’re entering the home stretch for this bill, and we’ve gotten this far because credit union leaders from around the country have told their members of Congress how this bill will help them serve their members better,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “It’s time to give a final push and get this thing across the finish line. Tell your members of Congress this bill is vital to the American consumer, that it needs to be signed into law to remove barriers keeping hard-working Americans from accessing safe products and services.

"The more votes we get, the more we’ll be able to convince members of Congress that regulatory relief is a truly bipartisan issue, and the better we’ll be positioned to see future regulatory relief,” Nussle added.

The Senate passed the bill in March, and would go to President Donald Trump for his signature if passed by the House. Stakeholders can use CUNA’s Campaign for Common-Sense Regulation website to contact their members of Congress.

S. 2155 would:

• Establish a safe harbor from certain requirements for a loan to be considered a Qualified Mortgage;
   
• Rescind the additional data points required under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act for insured credit unions that originate fewer than 500 closed-end and/or 500 open-end lines of credit;
   
• Reclassify one-to-four unit, non-owner occupied residential loans as real estate loans, so the loan would not count against the member business lending cap;
   
• Clarify that that the same consumer protections in place with respect to mortgage lending are nonexistent for Property Assessed Clean Energy loans;
   
• Remove the three-day wait period required for the combined TRID mortgage disclosure if a creditor extends to a consumer a second offer of credit with a lower annual percentage rate;
   
• Require NCUA to make publicly available a draft of their proposed budget, hold a hearing with public notice during which this draft would be discussed and solicit and consider public comment about the draft budget;
   
• Provide a safe harbor for properly trained financial employees who report alleged elder financial abuse; and
   
• Require the U.S. Department of Treasury to conduct a study on the risks that cyber threats may pose to financial institutions.