CUNA emphasized credit union priorities on several issues for Congressional hearings this week, including on payday lending, arbitration and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). CUNA’s letters were submitted for the record of hearings on those topics.

In addition to the letters highlighted below, CUNA submitted letters to the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committees for their hearings with federal financial regulators, both of which included NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood.

Other letters sent by CUNA state:

• “Credit unions believe the best path forward for regulating payday lending is to maintain the current rule with the addition of an unequivocal, express exemption for small dollar loans offered by credit unions. The 2017 Payday Rule is inappropriate as applied to credit unions based on our structure, history, and pro-consumer offerings.,” CUNA wrote to leadership of the House Oversight and Reform Committee for its hearing on payday lending. CUNA’s also included its comment letter on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) payday lending rule, which it submitted this week;
• “Arbitration can be an efficient means to resolve legal disputes between parties and the choice to use arbitration is highly dependent on each credit union’s internal policies, priorities, and resources. As arbitration is merely one tool amongst many, CUNA would be concerned with any legislation attempting to arbitrarily restrict the availability of arbitration to resolve disputes. Although arbitration may not an appropriate forum in every dispute, it certainly can be the appropriate forum to resolve some disputes,” CUNA wrote to leadership of the House Judiciary Committee for its hearing on arbitration; and
• “The rationale for the FCC’s existing interpretation of the TCPA and implementing regulations are not only outdated, but also harmful to both consumers and the credit unions that serve them. Accordingly, we urge Congress to hold the FCC accountable for its failure to modernize the TCPA and reiterate the need for the Commission to undertake rulemaking efforts that are line with modern technological practices,” CUNA wrote to the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on communications and technology for its hearing on oversight of the FCC.