Two long-time credit union supporters in Congress, Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) last week introduced a bill (H.R. 191) that would assist credit unions in providing financial services to non-profit religious organizations.
Called the Faith-Based Lending Protection Act, the legislation seeks to amend the Federal Credit Union Act to exempt member business loans (MBLs) made by credit unions to non-profit religious organizations from the MBL cap put in place by the Credit Union Membership Access Act.
Royce issued a statement saying he believes the bill puts food banks, soup kitchens, battered family shelters and other social service agencies one step closer to being able to get necessary loans from their local credit union, and called it a "win-win" for everyone involved, especially for those in need.
"Once again, we are very grateful to Rep. Royce for his continued interest in pursuing this initiative," said Gary Kohn, CUNA's vice president of legislative affairs and senior legislative counsel, in a statement. "We are hopeful that this will be the year that this legislation will become law and that credit unions providing this valuable service will be able to do so without fear of bumping up against the MBL caps."
