Poll: Growing Majority of Americans Demand Equal Consumer Protections for Credit Union Customers

Washington, D.C. (Sept. 11, 2024) — The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today released new polling data showing Americans are growing increasingly uneasy with credit unions’ regulatory exemptions and support reforms to policies that arbitrarily favor these tax-exempt financial firms.

“While credit unions continue to violate the limits established by Congress to justify their tax and regulatory exemptions, our latest polling shows the Americans who subsidize the credit union industry are increasingly skeptical of the industry’s lagging consumer protections,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said. “As credit unions increasingly use their taxpayer subsidies to finance acquisitions of tax-paying community banks, Congress should investigate the impact of credit union regulatory exemptions on consumers and local communities.”

According to ICBA’s latest polling of U.S. adults conducted by Morning Consult:

• 69% — including 75% of Democrats and 70% of Republicans — say credit union customers should have the same consumer protections that banks provide, such as those offered by the Community Reinvestment Act.

• 75% — including 84% of Democrats and 76% of Republicans — say credit union customers should have the same levels of protection against illegal discrimination as bank customers.

• 62% say Congress should investigate whether credit unions should continue to be exempt from certain regulations designed to protect fair lending following reports of racial disparities in mortgage lending at Navy Federal Credit Union.

ICBA released the results after issuing a letter to the National Credit Union Administration calling on the agency to bar credit unions from using funds raised from Wall Street investors to finance acquisitions of Main Street community banks.

More information on federal credit union policy is available on the ICBA website.

About ICBA

The Independent Community Bankers of America® has one mission: to create and promote an environment where community banks flourish. We power the potential of the nation’s community banks through effective advocacy, education, and innovation.

As local and trusted sources of credit, America’s community banks leverage their relationship-based business model and innovative offerings to channel deposits into the neighborhoods they serve, creating jobs, fostering economic prosperity, and fueling their customers’ financial goals and dreams. For more information, visit ICBA’s website at icba.org.