Newsroom

April 2, 2014 – NCUA announced a webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern April 16 for credit unions interested in learning how small-dollar loans can be a part of their product offerings.

This webinar will discuss examples of short-term lending programs at credit unions and factors for credit unions to consider before launching their own program, including:

• the benefits small-dollar loans can bring their portfolio;
• regulatory concerns governing this type of product offering; and
• the costs associated with developing a program.

Credit unions are authorized by NCUA to offer small-dollar, short-term loans to their members. The NCUA rules set strict limits on the amount, duration and number of loans that can be provided to a single member at any one time. NCUA says this type of lending grew to $27 million last year, up 27.6 percent from year-end 2012.

CFPB recently hosted a field hearing on payday loans and concurrently released a report that noted four out of five of these loans are rolled over or renewed within 14 days. CFPB Director Richard Cordray said during the field hearing that the bureau will be working to better regulate this type of lending.

CFPB began accepting complaints about payday loans in November. NAFCU continues to closely monitor the data the bureau collects and releases, and it has raised concerns about the reputation risk that unverified complaints in the system could create. NAFCU is encouraging CFPB to provide credit unions as much flexibility as possible in providing members good loans that are less costly than what they could get elsewhere.

Credit unions can now register for NCUA's webinar.