WASHINGTON – In swift action, President Obama yesterday signed into law the omnibus housing bill that also enacts the corporate credit union bailout–less than 24 hours after it was passed by Congress.
The new law will give NCUA a variety of tools to ease the burden of the estimated $6 billion cost of the corporate bailout of credit unions, including an option of spreading out the costs for as long as eight years.
The bill also creates a Corporate CU Stabilization Fund to which NCUA could transfer the costs of the corporate bailout from the National CU Share Insurance Fund, and provides up to $30 billion in emergency funding for NCUA to stem a systemic crisis.
NAFCU immediately called on NCUA to transfer the costs of the corporate bailout to the new stabilization fund and allow credit unions the maximum amount of time to pay their share of the bailout costs.
NAFCU also urged NCUA to allow credit unions to redo their first quarter financials to reflect the new law and to reverse out the charges related to the corporate bailout. This would "prevent unnecessary confusion and possible apprehension regarding credit unions due to the mostly substandard financial information contained in the call reports that result from the assessments under the current regulatory regime," said NAFCU President Fred Becker in a letter to all three NCUA Board members.
