On March 14th, the U.S. Senate passed S. 2155, the bipartisan regulatory reform package to make changes to Dodd-Frank provisions and relieve compliance burdens felt at financial institutions. Thank you to all the Georgia credit unions who met with the members of Congress at the GAC to urge them to act on this bill, as well as all the emails and social media messages to Congress from Georgia and credit unions all over the country on this bill. It’s been a long road as the bill is the work of years of negotiations in the Senate side, with many hours of advocacy from credit unions, Leagues and CUNA to get it to this stage. Congratulations to all for the forward progress of credit union regulatory relief!
The version that passed was amended on March 7th in the process; however, thanks to the work of credit unions, the provisions that would provide relief for credit unions and small to midsize banks remain. This bill is intended to expand consumer access to mortgages, reduce regulations and create a safe harbor for those who report suspected elder abuse, but also to limit credit report data collection – something of note in the post-Equifax breach era. In addition, there is a provision in the current bill that would grant credit unions parity with banks by classifying residential loans on one- to four-unit, non-owner-occupied properties as real estate loans (and not business loans at they are today).
Special thanks to the credit union leaders who traveled to D.C. last week to speak with members of Congress on this bill, the credit unions who sent emails to the legislators in support, to U.S. Sen. David Perdue (R) from Georgia for being one of the original sponsors, and to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson (R) from Georgia for his support of the bill as well. But the bill is far from over. The legislation now moves to the House, and as such the nationwide effort to keep the need for the legislation at the forefront continues. And while the House is out from March 23rd until April 9th, expressing support for this legislation can happen at any time via email or social media. To access CUNA’s toolkit on this, you can do so here.
