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NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger said the Independent Community Bankers of America lawsuit over NCUA's final member business lending rule raises to a new level the banking trade's campaign of attempted scare tactics and intimidation meant to hinder credit unions' ability to serve small businesses.

"NCUA's revised member business loan rule is a well-considered approach to making it possible for more credit unions to serve their members' needs by eliminating red tape and remaining within the letter and the spirit of the law," said Berger. "During the crisis, the banks weren't complaining about MBL, they were avoiding new business loans altogether. Credit unions, by contrast, stepped up.

"If the banks had put this much effort and money in policing themselves, maybe they could have helped prevent the financial crisis they caused that harmed consumers and our country's economy," he continued. "NAFCU will continue to vigorously defend credit unions' ability to provide member business loans."

NCUA's final rule eliminated credit unions' personal guarantee requirement and, effective Jan. 1, 2017, will eliminate the waiver process. NAFCU praised the rule for easing the regulatory burden on credit unions and allowing them the independence to safely and soundly address the needs of their small-business members.

NAFCU Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt reiterated NAFCU's sentiment on NCUA's rulemaking in a letter to leaders of the Senate and House yesterday. She also defended NCUA's rule in an article in The Hill.

Hunt's letter to lawmakers also noted a 2011 study commissioned by SBA's Office of Advocacy that found that during the 2007-2010 financial crisis, while banks' small business lending decreased, credit union business lending increased as a percentage of assets. That same study also showed that bank business lending was largely unaffected by credit union member business lending.

ICBA is claiming that rule provides credit unions with a "huge loophole" that they can use to increase their lending "in violation of the law."

The lawsuit, Independent Community Bankers of America v. National Credit Union Administration, was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia. The legal complaint is available here.