Many of the members of Congress offered little in the way of specifics to credit unions. But Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland told CUNA's GAC that credit unions need to do a better job of collecting certain data in order to better document the work they do.
Sarbanes pointed to the recent GAO report that suggested credit unions serve a lower percentage of lower-income people than do banks of similar size, but added the caveat that data was insufficient.
"I encourage you to develop data on who you serve," said Sarbanes. "You need a more systematic collection of data on the activities of the credit union movement. I say this as a supporter, but you need to show the commitment to serve people of modest means."
