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NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz was urged to strongly consider a return to an 18-month exam cycle for well-run credit unions in a letter sent Thursday by 30 members of the House, with NAFCU's support.

Thursday's letter, spearheaded by House Financial Services Committee members Frank Guinta, R-N.H., and Rubén Hinojosa, D-Texas, thanks NCUA for its focus on regulatory relief but says more can be done to ease the regulatory burden on credit unions. It notes the agency's recent budget estimates – $231 million for employee compensation and $6.4 million for airfare and auto rentals – and says moving to an extended exam cycle could help cut these costs.

The letter also points out Congress last year overwhelmingly approved allowing such change for banks, and that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, FDIC and the Federal Reserve Board have also taken their first steps toward an extended exam cycle for banks.

These actions by banking regulators would leave credit unions as the only federally regulated depository institutions subject to a strict, 12-month exam cycle at the federal level.

House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Chairman Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, and Ranking Member Lacy Clay, D-Mo., who heard Matz's testimony before the subcommittee last July, also signed the letter.

A statement from Guinta on Thursday's letter quotes NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger: "Credit unions did not cause the financial crisis. As an industry, we are in extremely sound shape. NCUA should devote more of its resources to the limited number of credit unions that need more help."