At the end of 2017, among all of the other issues in Congress (such as tax reform!), regulatory relief for credit unions crossed a few more hurdles to potential reality! The Senate Banking Committee agreed on November 16th to a bipartisan regulatory reform package to make changes to Dodd-Frank provisions and relieve compliance burdens at financial institutions, and promptly passed the bill, S. 2155. This was the work of years of negotiations on the Senate side, with many hours of advocacy from credit unions, Leagues and CUNA, between Hike the Hill visits, work with the Senate Banking Committee last spring for legislative proposals, and engagement in the series of hearings the committee has held. For a section-by-section summary of the bill, please click here.
The bill provides relief for credit unions and small to mid-sized banks that have been under strict post-crisis rules, and is intended to expand consumer access to mortgages, reduce regulations and create a safe harbor for those who report suspected elder abuse, but also 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).
However, there are still many distractions in Congress, and any bill could easily fall by the wayside. As such, credit unions, Leagues and CUNA continue to call for a vote on this bill in the Senate. This past week 38 states (including Georgia) along with CUNA wrote to Senate leadership urging them to bring bill S. 2155 to the floor for a vote. Of positive note for Georgia: One of this state’s U.S. Senators is an original co-sponsor of this legislation (U.S. Sen. David Perdue-R).
In the House, proactive bills to help credit unions were also addressed in the Financial Services Committee this week; four of note include:
- H.R. 1264, which encourages the exemption of financial institutions under $50 billion in assets from the rules and regulations issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
- H.R. 2226, which would allow mortgages held in portfolio at credit unions (and others) to be treated as qualified mortgages for the purposes of CFPB’s mortgage lending rules.
- H.R. 3746, which would ensure the regulation of insurance stays at the state level, as actions by the CFPB have created uncertainty and cause for concern.
- H.R. 4607, which would amend the Economic Growth and Regulatory Paperwork Reduction Act of 1996 (EGRPRA) to require the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council and federal financial regulators, including the CFPB and NCUA, to review all existing regulations once every five years. Of note to those credit unions traveling to D.C. for the Hike the Hill: This bill is authored by Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-11).
