Compliance

WASHINGTON – Two credit union executives were named yesterday to the 25-member Consumer Advisory Board for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which will provide advice to the new agencyon a consumer financial issues and emerging market trends.

WASHINGTON — Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling, one of the top candidates to assume control of the House Financial Services Committee next year, sharply criticized the Dodd-Frank Act, saying it had severely damaged financial institutions.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA said it has approved an additional 550 credit unions over the past month for low-income status under an initiative aimed at expanding access to capital in drought-stricken states, making those credit unions exempt from the congressional cap on member business loans.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A federal court here agreed yesterday to dismiss two more class action suits challenging credit union practices on overdrafts, the fifth and sixth suits to be dismissed in the past two weeks.

As the presidential and congressional elections grow closer, a key issue for credit unions is who will that president appoint to top regulatory positions, not to mention what Congress might do to those agencies.

If showing up is half the battle, then CUNA and NAFCU are bent on winning.

The announcement by NCUA that it had doubled the number of CUs eligible for a low-income designation, which would allow exceptions to the member business loan cap, only affects approximately a quarter of the 1,001 CUs included under the expanded eligibility.

LOS ANGELES – Lawyers for two members of Educational Employees FCU agreed Friday to voluntarily dismiss an overdraft suit they brought against the Fresno credit union, as the plaintiffs’ bar’s case against credit unions appears to be dissolving.

WASHINGTON – NCUA on Friday issued a report to the Senate Banking Committee defending the agency’s opposition to proposed legislation that would create a new examinations appeals process and a national Ombudsman where dissatisfied credit unions and banks could appeal their regulators’ examination findings.

In a big election year such as this one, the actual legislative cycle gets truncated and the noise generated by all the campaigning can make it look like a time when nothing is getting done.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alabama Telco CU is the latest credit union to move for dismissal of a new overdraft suit brought, claiming that neither law or its member agreements requires that debit transactions be processed in real-time.

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal court yesterday dismissed separate overdraft suits brought against SchoolsFirst FCU and Kern Schools FCU, two of the nine credit union challenged over their overdraft practices in recent months.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – NCUA on Friday barred a 19-year-old teller who was convicted of stealing $10,000 in in member funds form Great Falls regional FCU in Lewiston, Me., from the credit union industry.

ALBANY, N.Y. – The state’s highest court will open its fall session today with lawyers for Hudson Valley FCU arguing that federally chartered credit unions should be exempt from the state’s mortgage recording tax, and the federal government defense of the credit union case could prove to be the deciding factor.

CEO of Total Community Credit Union Phillip Matous wants to make sure legislators in his state understand the real "weight" of the regulatory burden credit unions are bearing, so he sent them a 1,099 page document to make his point.

NEW ORLEANS – A serial plaintiff in ATM fee suits has filed 16 new actions over the past four weeks alleging credit unions and banks have violated provisions of the Electronic Funds Transfer Act, just as Congress is closing in on legislation that would make those suits impossible.

MONTPELIER, Vt. – A formal hearing is now scheduled for Oct. 24 between Vermont State Employees CU and the state’s Department of Financial Regulation over the use of the words “bank” and “banking” by the credit union.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The relationship between many CUs and their examiners remains strained, according to a recent NAFCU survey of its membership.

MADISON, Wis. – Credit unions have struggled in their attempts to comply with regulations regarding multi-featured open-end lending the last two years, and one compliance expert believes CUs will have to opt for closed-end lending in most cases.

MONTPELIER, Vt. – A pre-conference hearing is scheduled for today in the legal battle between Vermont State Employees CU and the state’s Department of Financial Regulation over the use of the words “bank” and “banking.”