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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington (June 8, 2017) -National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) President and CEO Dan Berger today thanked Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., and Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D.,forwriting CFPB Director Richard Cordray echoing NAFCU's call for a one-year delay in the bureau's revised Home Mortgage Disclosure Act rule.

"We thank Senators Rounds and Heitkamp for seeking this rule delay and for proposing the relief that many credit unions would experience if the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act became law," said Berger. "NAFCU continues to support the rule's intended purpose of promoting fair lending and consumer protection, but concerns about the rule must be addressed."

The senators recommended a one-year delay – "at a minimum" – to Jan. 1, 2019, while the CFPB updates the HMDA resubmission guidelines and to allow Congress time to consider the Home Mortgage Disclosure Adjustment Act, which they introduced Wednesday. If that bill were enacted, depository institutions that have originated fewer than 500 open-end lines of credit and closed-end mortgages in each of the previous two years would be exempt from HMDA reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

In today's letter, the two senators note support for HMDA's focus on fair lending and equitable access to the housing market. However, they also note "this rulemaking has and will likely continue to play a substantial role in increasing the significant costs of regulatory compliance – taxing credit unions' and community banks' finite resources."

NAFCU has long urged the CFPB to use the authority it has under the Dodd-Frank Act to provide credit unions more exemptions from its rules. In May, Berger also urged the CFPB to delaythe HMDA rule for one year.

NCUA Acting Chairman J. Mark McWatters echoed the callfor relief in May, urging Cordray to use the Dodd-Frank exemption authority more and specifically highlighting the burdens presented under the 2015 revision to the HMDA rule.

The National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions is the only national trade association focusing exclusively on federal issues affecting the nation's federally-insured credit unions. NAFCU membership is direct and provides credit unions with the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance. For more information on NAFCU, go towww.nafcu.orgor@NAFCUon Twitter.

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