CDFI Fund issues long-sought supplemental guidance

The Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund issued CUNA-requested supplemental guidance Thursday for CDFIs currently in a certification cure period. CUNA has engaged with the CDFI Fund in recent months over CDFI credit unions receiving blanket cure notices and having their CDFI designation terminated without meaningful information or guidance.

“While this guidance is much needed by CDFI credit unions facing questions over their status, releasing it 17 business days before the deadline is not reasonable time to for a credit union to understand and act on it,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “We’re currently working with our system partners to ensure the guidance covers our concerns but feel the CDFI fund has put vital community funding in jeopardy with its delays and lack of transparency.”

The guidance includes a frequently asked questions (FAQs) guide to inform CDFIs in a cure period how to resolve certification-related deficiencies. The FAQs are now available on the CDFI Certification Application and Data Collection Reporting Revisions page. The CDFI Fund has also published specific Certification-related cure period worksheets.

For certain CDFIs in a cure period, the CDFI Fund recently extended the deadline to submit information demonstrating the cure is fulfilled.

Organizations that received their first/initial Certification Cure Period Notification via email dated in June have until Sept. 30 to comply with cure requirements. Institutions that received the notification in July and August have until Oct. 23 to comply with cure requirements.