The Credit Union National Association (CUNA) made recommendations last week to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on how it can provide regulatory relief for credit union.
In a letter to the bureau, CUNA outlined detailed recommendations to improve its regulations in a variety of areas, including the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; mortgage origination rules; mortgage servicing regulations; remittances; the Fair Debt Collection Practice Act; indirect lending; prepaid cards; payday and small-dollar loans; small-business lending; and access to financial records, among others.
“We urge the bureau to take immediate action and implement our suggestions for the protection of credit union members, who have fewer choices and are incurring increased costs due to CFPB rules,” CUNA President and CEO Jim Nussle wrote.
He said CUNA is willing to provide the CFPB any further details or analysis necessary to achieve regulatory relief.
“The CFPB continues to cite the very minimal accommodations it has made in some rules for credit unions,” Nussle wrote. “However, in practicality, credit unions’ ability to provide top-quality and consumer-friendly financial products and services has been significantly impeded by a one-size-fits-all regulatory scheme that favors large banks and less regulated nonbank lenders-institutions that have more resources for overly complex compliance requirements.”
CUNA said the costs borne by credit unions as a result of CFPB regulations have had a negative impact on them. CUNA also criticized the CFPB for its failure to use its legal authority to exempt credit unions from certain regulations and to adequately account for the size, complexity, structure, or mission of all credit unions.