Newsroom

August 11, 2016

Clinton pledges to 'expand access to credit' thru CUs

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton promised to "cut red tape" and "expand access to credit, especially through community banks and credit unions," during an economic speech in Warren, Mich., on Thursday.

Clinton cited credit unions after she promised "a major push to empower small businesses and entrepreneurs."

Clinton made a similar remark during a speech in June, saying: "We need to slash unnecessary regulations, making it easier to get start-up capital from community banks and credit unions."

However, when Clinton mentioned Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's plan to impose a moratorium on new regulations and to abolish CFPB, she said she would do "the opposite."

"Trump would roll back tough rules on the financial industry," Clinton said. "I'll do the opposite – we should strengthen those rules so that Wall Street can never wreck Main Street again.

"Trump even wants to abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has already returned more than $11 billion to 25 million Americans," she continued. "Why would you get rid of that?"

NAFCU's federal advocacy team continues to be in contact with both campaigns and advocate the need for regulatory relief for credit unions and to preserve credit unions' federally tax-exempt status. NAFCU also continues to push for CFPB to do more to grant credit unions relief through the bureau's exemption authority under the Dodd-Frank Act. NAFCU was the only credit union trade association to oppose subjecting credit unions to CFPB authority under Dodd-Frank.

Trump gave an economic speech on Monday, during which he discussed rolling back unnecessary rules and said he would work to push through a plan for tax simplification along the lines of what House Republicans have proposed. Those plans should be unveiled in coming weeks.