NAFCU: Working For the Nation's Credit Unions
Summary of 2005 Accomplishments
ENHANCING THE FEDERAL CHARTER
As an advocate for federal credit unions, NAFCU strives to ensure the expanded viability of the federal charter for credit unions through a set of broad-based initiatives that would make improvements to the Federal Credit Union Act. This past year, NAFCU has worked diligently with members of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committee to enact regulatory reform that would allow credit unions to better serve their members.
CREDIT UNION REGULATORY IMPROVEMENTS ACT
On May 12, 2005 Reps. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) introduced H.R. 2317, the Credit Union Regulatory Improvements Act of 2005 (CURIA). CURIA includes a number of provisions that were included in the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act which the House has passed previously. However, CURIA also includes additional provisions not included in any of the previous regulatory relief packages that were approved by the House.
Most notably, CURIA would alter net worth requirements for prompt corrective action (PCA). Title I of the bill would bring all credit unions under risk-based net worth requirements and would also provide for a specific risk-based net worth ratio. The legislation authorizes the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to provide a short-term waiver for certain marginally undercapitalized credit unions, on a case-by-case basis.
GRASSROOTS SUPPORT - CURIA POSTCARDS
NAFCU developed a series of postcards to help credit unions and credit union members thank those representatives who have signed on to the legislation and to encourage others to support
CURIA. So far, approximately 8,000 postcards have been mailed through this campaign.
REGULATORY RELIEF
On July 28, 2005, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) and Rep. Dennis Moore (D-KS) introduced a comprehensive regulatory relief package (H.R. 3505). The legislation contains all 13 credit union provisions that were included in the proposal that passed the House during the last session of Congress. Additionally, the bill incorporates language identical to the Net Worth Amendment for Federal Credit Unions Act, which passed the House earlier this year. The Net Worth Amendment would allow merging credit unions to continue to use the "pooling method" to account for net worth, rather than the "purchase method."
NAFCU TESTIFIES ON CAPITOL HILL
On May 19, 2005, Robert Marquette, President/CEO of Members 1st Federal Credit Union and NAFCU Director-At-Large, testified on behalf of NAFCU on Financial Services Regulatory Relief before the House Financial Services Committee - Subcommittee on Financial Services and Consumer Credit.
On June 21, 2005, the Senate Banking committee held a hearing on regulatory relief at which Michael Vadala, President/CEO of The Summit Federal Credit Union and currently NAFCU Chair, testified. Mr. Vadala testified in favor of including the provisions from last year's House passed regulatory relief bill as well as the provisions included in CURIA and the Net Worth Amendment.
BANKRUPTCY REFORM
After eight long years of working for changes in the bankruptcy system that would strike an equitable balance between the interests of debtors and lenders, The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act was finally signed into law on April 20, 2005. The act, which takes effect on October 17, 2005, includes three key provisions that NAFCU insisted must be included:
- A means test to determine whether debtors filing Chapter 7 have
the means to repay some of their debts, therefore requiring them to
file under Chapter 13
- Mandatory financial education for all filers
- Preserving the right of voluntary reaffirmation for credit
union members
The Legislative section of the NAFCU Web site provides issue briefs, written testimony, links to contact Congress and much more information on the important issues that the NAFCU Legislative team is tackling on your behalf.
NAFCU/PAC
The goal of NAFCU/PAC is to help credit unions remain a powerful and influential political force. NAFCU/PAC raises voluntary funds for use as campaign contributions to political candidates at the federal level. NAFCU/PAC raised $292,525 for the 2003/2004 election cycle, a record amount. Thanks to generous member contributions, NAFCU/PAC is on pace to set another record for 2005.
The new NAFCU/PAC Challenge recognizes the commitment of NAFCU members to help elect political candidates who support credit unions. The Individual Challenge recognizes contributions by individual credit union professionals, volunteers and members. The Credit Union Challenge recognizes the combined contributions of professionals and volunteers associated with each credit union, with awards given in each of the three asset size categories. For more information, contact NAFCU’s Associate Director of Political Affairs at (800) 334-4644, ext. 221.
NAFCU FINANCIAL EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR CREDIT
UNIONS AVAILABLE IN SPANISH
In response to member requests and the growing need for financial tools in the Hispanic community, NAFCU released a Spanish language version of the popular “NAFCU Financial Education Curriculum for Credit Unions.” The translation was completed with the cooperation of Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union.
The Money Smart curriculum was developed by the FDIC to help young adults enhance their financial skills and develop positive relationships with financial institutions. NAFCU teamed up with the FDIC to further distribute this unique education program to member credit unions. This ten chapter program has been adapted by NAFCU from the original FDIC version to better reflect the services and terminology used by credit unions. Credit unions are encouraged to incorporate the curriculum into their own financial education programs and to adjust the content depending on the credit union's specific goals.
The FREE download of both the English and Spanish versions of NAFCU’s Financial Education Curriculum for Credit Unions is available from the NAFCU Web site at www.nafcu.org.
NEW ONLINE INFORMATION UPDATE
For the first time, NAFCU members were able to update their credit union, staff and volunteer information online. Thanks to the great response, we were able to update our membership database more quickly and efficiently and transfer the information to our membership directory.
In addition to the annual membership directory, you can also access the online, searchable membership directory anytime at www.nafcu.org.
FREE BROCHURES
NAFCU added “The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act – Your Rights and Responsibilities” and “Learn More about Stored Value Cards” to the list of brochures available to download at no cost from the NAFCU Web site. These brochures provide your members with easy to read explanations of SCRA and stored value cards.
You have access to over a dozen FREE brochures and articles that you are encouraged to use in your member statements and publications. You can access all this information at www.nafcu.org/
free brochures
THE NAFCU/FANNIE MAE ALLIANCE
The NAFCU/Fannie Mae alliance can make mortgage lending easier and less costly for you and, more importantly, for your members. To date, more than 100 NAFCU member credit unions are benefiting from the NAFCU member-only discounts and preferred placement in Fannie Mae training programs. Many of these members find that their Fannie Mae related savings exceed the cost of their NAFCU dues.
The new Member Benefits section of the NAFCU Web site helps you get more from your NAFCU dues by highlighting the NAFCU resources and discounts that are available for every member of your credit union team, broken out into the following job functions:
- Chief Executive Officers
- Compliance Professionals
- Finance and Lending Professionals
- Marketing Professionals
- Volunteers
Visit the NAFCU Web site at www.nafcu.org and click on Membership, Member Benefits for more information.
VOLUNTEER INVOLVEMENT AND ASSISTANCE
NAFCU has worked for the past several years to include the experience and knowledge of credit union volunteers in developing the focus of the association. This past year, 29 volunteers have served on the 12 NAFCU committees. For the past 7 years, two seats of the NAFCU Board have been filled by volunteers, including:
- Frank De Mita, Director Emeritus of Nassau Educators
FCU, who left the NAFCU board in 2003 after serving 9 years
- David Gilbert, Chair of Aberdeen Proving Ground FCU,
who has served for the past 7 years
- Brian McDonnell, who is serving the remaining year of his
term as Director of Navy FCU after his retirement from the
CEO position this past year.
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