KNOXVILLE, Tenn.-The Credit Union Committee on Declaration of Grievances is getting bigger and gaining traction.
David Proffitt said the committee that started with 32 CEOs earlier this year has now grown to 91. The committee was formed in an effort to "stop griping in the background" over NCUA's oversight of credit unions, and complain directly to Congress, asking that NCUA be placed under tighter controls (
"We're growing and our signers represent a wide geographic area now, and a wide range of assets sizes," said the CEO of the $176-million Alcoa Tennessee FCU.
Early in the second quarter the committee sent a seven-page letter listing their concerns to the House Financial Services Committee. Noted prominently was NCUA's supervision of the corporates, the hike in NCUA wages and expenditures at a time when credit unions are cutting back, and annual assessments that are placing a long-term financial burden on credit unions. The letter asserted that CUs are being "drained" by the recent actions of NCUA, as well as other federal agencies, all of which is ultimately harming consumers.
"I have spoken with representatives from Senator Bob Corker's (R-TN) office and Congressman (Jimmy) Duncan's (R-TN) office," said Proffitt. "Senator Corker is very active on financial regulatory issues...I think the committee, overall, has made an impact. After we posted our Declaration we saw credit union trade officials empowered to speak out on the same issues, and we've seen the federal regulators respond more publicly to try and defend their actions regarding these issues. But we don't expect them to change without true accountability to Congress."
Proffitt said the committee has been resending the letter to Congress. "And we have adopted the phrase 'regulatory extremism' to represent the actions of financial regulators that are scapegoating the everyday, middle-class credit unions. We see these regulations and assessments as taking our members' hard-earned money to perpetuate the financial regulators' control and gain of the system rather than the safety and soundness of credit unions."
Proffitt expects more CEOs to come on board in 2012.
"We recognize that members of Congress are the only ones who can affect change and accountability of the financial regulators," Proffitt told Credit Union Journal. "We are continuing our efforts in 2012 because we see more threats to credit unions coming as more regulations are being created within new financial regulatory agencies such as the CFPB. We may not have seen the worst yet."
