In Brief: ABA Appeals Suit Of Credit Unions

WASHINGTON — The American Bankers Association has taken its fight against credit union membership rules to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The group charges that a lower court made numerous errors in April when it threw out a case the ABA filed against the National Credit Union Administration. That suit contended that the NCUA flouted congressional intent in implementing a 1998 law allowing credit unions to serve unrelated groups or associations provided that each has fewer than 3,000 eligible members. Groups with more than 3,000 members are required to form their own credit union, unless they are unable to operate one safely.

The NCUA, the banking group charged, defined “member” more narrowly than Congress intended, in order to increase the size of organizations that credit unions may serve. It also said the NCUA made it too easy for a group to claim that it is unable to operate a credit union safely.

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