Poll shows growing demands for credit union policy reform

ICBA 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.

Details: 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.

Consumer Skepticism: “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 in a national news release.

Subordinated Debt Letter: ICBA released the results after this week 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: Community bankers can use ICBA’s Be Heard grassroots action center to call on members of Congress to hold a hearing on credit union policy, while additional resources are available on the ICBA website.

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