News

Campaign for Common Sense Regulation Launched — 1/12/17

As a new Congress convened in Washington last week, CUNA and state Leagues system formally launched a multilayered advocacy campaign in the new year that looks to take advantage of a favorable political environment to rein in excessive regulations that are hurting credit unions. The central piece of the Campaign for Common Sense Regulation will be activating credit union members nationwide to get involved in the advocacy fight.

“The cost of excessive regulation has greatly impacted credit unions in West Virginia to the tune of $28.9 million according to a Cornerstone Advisors study released last year by CUNA,” stated League President Ken Watts. “This cost averages out to $322,000 per credit union, or $72.00 per member,” he added. “With credit union support, we plan to ask Congress to ease the burden on credit unions by supporting common sense legislation,”

CUNA emphasized that while supporting regulatory relief is a top priority, protecting credit unions’ tax status and enhancing payment security are still major legislative priorities.

“We have a great opportunity to take full advantage of the strength of the CUNA/league system, and this campaign will help unleash our secret weapon: the voice of the credit union member,” explained CUNA President Jim Nussle during a webinar hosted a week after the official launch. Nussle emphasized that the campaign is a pro-consumer, bipartisan effort that will ultimately benefit the financial services marketplace by allowing credit unions to better serve their members and businesses.

While the campaign will be a sustained and coordinated effort among CUNA, Leagues, and credit unions, all will be looking toward the February GAC to deliver the key messages in person to lawmakers in Washington.

The campaign includes goals on both the legislative and regulatory fronts:

  • Legislative:
    • -Broaden and clarify the statutory ability of the Consumer Financial Protection -Bureau to exempt credit unions from certain regulations;
    • -Change the CFPB structure to a 5-person commission instead of a single director;
    • -Fund the CFPB through the appropriations process; and
    • Increase the asset threshold for CFPB supervision.
  • Regulatory:
    • -Stop the CFPB’s payday, arbitration and debt collection rulemakings;
    • -Fix regulations related to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, TILA/RESPA integrated disclosure, remittances and others;
    • -Keep a potential CFPB rulemaking on overdraft protection from moving forward; and
    • -End the practice of regulation through supervision.

The Campaign forCommon-Sense Regulation webpage features a number of resources, including talking points, information for employees and members, graphics for communications and social media materials.