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April 15, 2014 – NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler and Director of Regulatory Affairs Mike Coleman took part in another meeting held by White House and administration officials Monday on housing finance reform, particularly on regulatory issues that could arise from the draft Johnson-Crapo reform package.

Monday's meeting was part of a series of roundtables attended by NAFCU as White House officials continue to hear from stakeholders and gather information about the impact of the legislation.

The draft reform package – released by Sens. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, chairman and ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee – would provide for a wind-down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and create a new mortgage insurance entity that could establish one or more mutual companies to facilitate secondary mortgage market access for lenders, including small lenders such as credit unions. It also sets up a series of new fees and a plan for transferring Fannie and Freddie funds to help capitalize the new entity. The committee has scheduled a markup of the package on April 29.

NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger and the CEOs of the Independent Community Bankers of America and CUNA last week jointly reminded the Senate Banking Committee leaders of the need for small institutions to have equal, competitive access to the secondary mortgage market in any future housing finance system. They also expressed concerns about the cost of the proposed reforms, uncertainty with moving toward a new system, and made several specific recommendations to improve the discussion draft.

NAFCU is urging lawmakers to ensure credit unions guaranteed access to the secondary mortgage market, a continuation of the government guarantee and fair pricing that is based on loan quality in any housing finance reform package.