NCUA should continue its COVID-19 policy accommodations, CUNA wrote to the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Tuesday. NCUA Chairman Todd Harper, along with other federal financial regulators, testified before the committee Tuesday.

“We appreciate the steps the agency has taken the past year to address pressures on credit unions in connection with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic,” the letter reads. “These include several interim final rules, including a recently adopted interim final rule that continues relief provided in a 2020 rule related to prompt corrective action (PCA). We are hopeful that the agency will remain responsive and open to the needs of credit unions and their members during this global crisis.”

Additional highlights of the letter include:

• CUNA encourages Congress to enact legislation that provides temporary flexibility to NCUA to offer forbearance from PCA to otherwise healthy credit unions impacted by federally declared emergencies or disasters.
• Legislation called for by Harper to make statutory changes to the share insurance fund would be “unwarranted and counterproductive.”
• CUNA notes that, despite bank complaints, banks selling to credit union benefits all involved in the transaction.
• CUNA strongly supports the Expanding Financial Access for Underserved Communities Act, which would:
  • Allow all Federal credit unions to add underserved areas to their field of membership.
  • Exempt business loans made by credit unions to businesses in underserved areas from the credit union member business lending cap.
  • Expands the definition of an underserved area to include any area that is more than 10 miles from the nearest branch of a financial institution.
• An update on credit unions’ diversity, equity, and inclusion work.