Newsroom

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is set to testify today before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis as he has played an integral role in negotiating packages and implementing programs amid the pandemic. Ahead of the hearing, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler reiterated the association's call for additional credit union relief measures to be included in the next coronavirus-related package.

Today's hearing is set to begin at 1 p.m. Eastern and will be available via livestream.

Throughout the pandemic, NAFCU has consistently fought for credit unions to have the regulatory flexibility and relief needed to provide members facing financial hardship with the assistance they need. The association's advocacy has secured several beneficial provisions and bipartisan support for additional legislative changes. In addition, NAFCU has strongly opposed efforts to extend interchange price caps to credit cards, arguing that it "would cause irreparable harm to credit unions" and hurt consumers by potentially reducing the availability of credit.

In the letter sent Monday, Thaler outlined provisions – already provided for in previous relief packages or being considered – that would benefit credit unions and their members, including:

• simplifying the PPP loan forgiveness process for loans under a $150,000 threshold, such as proposed in the ​​Paycheck Protection Small Business Forgiveness Act;
• making permanent the changes to the NCUA's Central Liquidity Facility;
• extending flexibility related to troubled debt restructurings (TDRs);
• providing parity for the NCUA with the FDIC related to establishing an unlimited maximum guarantee to all shares or deposits held in a federally-insured credit union;
• providing an exemption or extended relief from the current expected credit loss (CECL) standard for credit unions;
• providing capital flexibility to credit unions on par with what community banks received, which allowed banking regulators to temporarily lower the Community Bank Leverage Ratio (CBLR) from 9 percent to 8 percent;
• providing relief from credit unions' member business lending (MBL) cap so they can provide more credit to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic;
• providing emergency funding for the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund and the NCUA's Community Development Revolving Loan Fund (CDRLF), which will allow credit unions to better serve underserved and low-income communities;
• modernizing the E-SIGN Act; and
• limiting liability for essential businesses that remained open during the pandemic to protect them from exploitative lawsuits.

Additional provisions Thaler warned against including as they could hinder credit unions' ability to support members trying to recover from the pandemic include:

• eliminating courtesy pay programs;
• mandating blanket loan forbearance;
• placing overly broad restrictions on first-party debt collection;
• disrupting the integrity of the credit reporting system;
• making major changes to bankruptcy provisions; and
• allowing big tech to enter the financial services industry without proper oversight or regulations.

NAFCU will continue its aggressive advocacy to ensure credit unions' needs are included in any final legislation.