CUNA and credit unions saw a historic victory with the signing of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) last month, but the question remains: when and how will the regulatory relief provisions in the bill become effective?

The most notable credit union-specific provision in S. 2155 grants credit unions parity with banks on certain real estate loans. Specifically, loans made for one-to-four unit, non-owner occupied residences are now classified as real estate loans, as opposed to business loans.

Those loans will no longer count against a credit unions’ member business lending cap of 12.25% of assets.

S. 2155 says this provision is effective immediately upon enactment, and the NCUA board approved a final rule May 30 by notation vote that removes the member’s occupancy requirement for loans secured by liens on one-to-four-unit family dwellings.

The member business lending rule previously required those dwellings to be the primary residence of a member in order to be excluded. The rule will become effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Register.

A recent CUNA CompBlog entry examines other effective dates, using documents from the Senate Banking Committee. The information from the committee leaves many of the effective dates blank, because those were not specifically mentioned in the legislative text.

Those provisions include:

• Requiring NCUA to publish and hold a hearing on a draft budget;
• Exemption from escrow requirements under the Truth in Lending Act for certain loans made by an insured depository institution or an insured credit union with less than $10 billion in total consolidated assets
• Exemption from certain Home Mortgage Disclosure Act reporting requirements for institutions originating less than less than 500 closed-end mortgage loans or less than 500 open-end lines of credit in each of the two preceding calendar years; and
• Extending a safe harbor from prosecution for trained financial services employees who report suspected elder financial abuse.

In addition to the CompBlog, CUNA’s Compliance Community contains discussion boards and a number of other resources for credit union compliance professionals around the country.