FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

June 11, 2019 

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) sent letters for the record to Congress today ahead of the House Committee on Appropriations markup of the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Act for Fiscal Year 2020, the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing on student loan servicing and Senate Banking Committee hearing on data brokers.  

• As more credit unions are finding ways to support student borrowers through private loans a common barrier for many federal credit unions from entering the student lending sector is the 15-year loan maturity limit. CUNA wrote in support of H.R. 1661, which would provide the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Board flexibility to increase Federal credit union loan maturities. Read the letter to the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations in full here.  
• CUNA supported appropriations levels for the two credit union-related funds in the Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) Act for Fiscal Year 2020 in a letter to House Appropriations Committee leadership. The legislation allocates $300 million for the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund, a $50 million increase over last year. The fund makes capital grants, equity investments and awards for technical assistants to certified CDFIs. Read the letter to the Committee on Appropriations here.  
• CUNA continues to call on lawmakers to ensure that all Americans can enjoy robust protection of their most important personal data from misuse and theft. Read the letter for the Senate Banking Committee in full here.  

Additionally, CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote to the sponsors of the CECL Stop & Study legislation that was introduced in the House today. 

• The CECL Consumer Impact and Study Bill of 2019, which would delay implementation of the current expected credit loss (CECL) accounting standard by one year. CUNA has called on NCUA to provide credit unions with more resources to assist with CECL implementation. The bill, introduced by Reps. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Ted Budd (R-N.C.), would also require the Securities and Exchange Commission, in consultation with the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB, the entity issuing CECL), to study its potential impact and allow consideration of other methods. Read the letter to the House of Representatives in full here.  

Lastly, CUNA engaged the House Committee on Financial Services regarding four regulatory relief bills to be marked up this week, including: 

• The Corporate Transparency Act of 2019 (H.R. 2513), which would address the redundancies, unnecessary burdens, and opportunities for efficiencies within the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) statutory framework. CUNA notes that regulatory regimes like BSA should be a scalable framework to help smaller institutions; 
• The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Administration Reform Act of 2019 (H.R. 3111), which would make administrative reforms to the NFIP; 

• The NFIP Reauthorization Act of 2019 (H.R. 3167), which would extend NFIP through Sept. 30, 2024. While CUNA supports this bill and H.R. 3111, it also called for a long-term, sustainable solution to restore certainty to the market; and 
• The House Financial Literacy Act of 2019 (H.R. 2162), which would require the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide a 25-basis point discount in FHA insurance premiums for first-time homebuyers that complete a financial counseling course. 

###        

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 115 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. To find your nearest credit union, visit YourMoneyFurther.com.   

CONTACT:        

Lauren Williams       
CUNA Communications       
202-672-3396