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NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler urged lawmakers to sign on to a letter from Sens. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., and Ben Sasse, R-Neb., that pushes CFPB to exempt credit unions from certain rulemakings.

The letter urges CFPB to grant credit unions relief through its authority under Section 1022(b)(3)(a) in the Dodd-Frank Act to grant exemptions on a rule-by-rule basis to "any class" of entity from its regulatory requirements. NAFCU has repeatedly pressed the bureau to use that authority more effectively.

"If the CFPB were to use its existing authority to better tailor or exempt credit unions from rulemakings intended for larger financial institutions it would result in a significant regulatory burden relief on community lenders while targeting those who created the financial crisis," Thaler wrote in a message to Senate offices. "This relief can be immediate and doesn't require congressional action. It will also ensure CFPB resources are not wasted on implementing rules for institutions that were not the cause for the rulemaking in the first place."

The Donnelly/Sasse letter emphasizes the negative impact of the regulatory burden experienced by community institutions since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act.

NAFCU was the only credit union trade association to oppose subjecting credit unions to CFPB authority under Dodd-Frank. The association maintains that CFPB has and should be using its authority to exempt credit unions from regulations aimed at bad actors.

Donnelly's and Sasse's letter is similar to a letter sent to Cordray in March signed by a bipartisan group of 329 House members.