ICBA publicly announced its strong opposition to a National Credit Union Administration proposal to decimate field-of-membership rules for federally chartered credit unions. In a comment letter and national news release, ICBA said quadrupling the population limit for most community credit unions to 10 million violates statutory requirements that geographic-based credit unions may serve only a well-defined local area.
If the NCUA’s proposal is adopted, federal credit unions would be able to serve a statistical area with a population that is greater than the population of 41 states and the District of Columbia—making a mockery of statutory membership restrictions. Further, the NCUA’s proposal to allow community charter applicants to submit narratives to demonstrate residents’ common interests is troubling because the agency has proven that it cannot be objective when it comes to credit union expansion, ICBA wrote.
The comment letter comes amid ICBA and American Bankers Association lawsuits against the agency’s member-business-lending and FOM regulations, respectively. Each association is planning to submit a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the other’s lawsuit.
Responding to community bankers who have asked how they can help ICBA’s legal challenge, ICBA has established the ICBA Credit Union Litigation Fund. The fund allows community bankers to provide voluntary contributions to ICBA’s lawsuit against the NCUA. Learn More and Take Part.