In 2017, NAFCU marks its 50th — golden — anniversary, and we are kicking it off in high gear!
As a new Congress and administration take shape, NAFCU has hit the ground running, urging the newly elected as well as returning lawmakers for critical regulatory relief for our industry. The association also has been front and center working with the incoming administration and continuing its efforts with our regulators to improve the business environment for credit unions' growth and future prosperity.
NAFCU seamlessly adopted its name change to more accurately reflect a membership that welcomes all federally-insured credit unions. The association maintains its focus on issues affecting credit unions at the federal level. Our mission is unwavering: To provide the best in federal advocacy, education and compliance assistance to our members and to advance our goals for advocacy. Specifically, NAFCU intends to leverage 2016's legislative successes especially those improvements related to the Dodd-Frank Act to help alleviate the unnecessary burden placed on credit unions.
Going forward, NAFCU will keep the protection of credit unions' tax-exempt status as its top priority. We will urge the CFPB to use its statutory authority to exempt credit unions from regulations designed to address bad actors on Wall Street. Housing finance reform will also be a major focus. Reform that guarantees access to the secondary mortgage market for credit unions and ensures fair pricing based on loan quality, not just volume. NAFCU will also continue to advance the adoption of national data security standards for all that hold consumers' personal financial data (similar to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act standards credit unions already adhere to). Another top priority is the interchange issue. NAFCU will continue to push to repeal the failed Durbin amendment and fight against any efforts to expand interchange price caps to credit cards. It will also continue to press the Federal Reserve to lessen the negative burden of the Durbin price caps.
The association has also actively engaged with NCUA as the agency continues to develop its cybersecurity examinations. NAFCU has joined with CUNA to defend credit unions' interests against the pending bankers' lawsuit over NCUA's member business lending rule. NAFCU has been particularly vocal in its concerns about potential NCUSIF premium charges and in urging the NCUA to work to ensure a TCCUSF refund for credit unions as soon as possible. In fact, NAFCU launched a new NCUA Money Watch page to analyze NCUA's budget and finances. NAFCU is also in constant contact with CFPB regarding its anticipated rulemakings on overdraft programs and first-party debt collection.
Undoubtedly, the new year will have its share of challenges. Top among them will be the new regulations pertaining to prepaid accounts, mortgage servicing, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), and the credit card element of the Military Lending Act (MLA). I am confident, with NAFCU's exceptional staff and services, we will have an outstanding array of resources available to help credit unions deftly navigate these new regulations.
Ultimately, as part of their dedicated advocacy efforts, NAFCU staff has laid critical groundwork for us. But as they say, all politics is local. To leverage the true value of credit unions among lawmakers, it is incumbent on us to make sure they know us, their constituents. We should invite lawmakers to visit our credit unions or we should visit them in their district offices as well as Washington. Our first 50 years of success have been built on a solid foundation of advocacy at the federal and grassroots level. Today, with so many competing interests on the regulatory and legislative front, we must redouble our efforts to advance the credit union difference to ensure a prosperous future for our industry. With all of us working together, we are sure to make our golden year an outstanding triumph!
