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NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler on Friday urged Senate leaders to address some House-passed regulatory relief measures – on privacy notices, IOLTA parity and a qualified mortgage points-and-fees fix – during Congress' lame-duck session following the fall elections.

Thaler, writing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the measures would help relieve credit unions' regulatory burden. Here's a look at each:

Annual privacy notices
S. 635, the "Privacy Notice Modernization Act of 2013," would remove the requirement that financial institutions send redundant paper annual privacy notices if they do not share information and their policies have not changed. "This exemption will allow credit unions to focus their resources on providing low-cost financial services to their members without disturbing consumer privacy policy availability," he wrote.

IOLTA parity
Both S. 2699 and S. 2698 would provide important relief to credit unions with Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts. "Maintaining parity between the coverage provided by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on all types of deposits and accounts is imperative and a longstanding goal of NAFCU member credit unions," wrote Thaler.

QM point-and-fees fix
S. 1577, the "Mortgage Choice Act of 2013," would alter the definition of point and fees under CFPB's qualified mortgage rule. Thaler said the bill would "greatly improve the definition of ‘points and fees' used to determine whether a loan meets the QM test, and would ensure that those with low and moderate means would continue to be able to obtain their mortgages from their credit union at a reasonable price."

Congress returns to wrap up this year's work Nov. 12.