The National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) issued the following statement in response to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s announced changes today on Federal Home Loan Bank membership eligibility requirements. The revisions do not retain a proposed, NAFCU-opposed requirement that FHLB members, such as credit unions, hold 10 percent of their total assets in residential mortgage loans on an ongoing basis.
“NAFCU is pleased the agency heeded our suggestion by not imposing the 10 percent standard on an ongoing basis,” said NAFCU Executive Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Carrie Hunt. “NAFCU firmly believes that credit unions should have the flexibility to manage their mortgage portfolios with the best interest of their members in mind, rather having to manage to meet an arbitrary standard. Extending the 10 percent standard on an ongoing basis would have unnecessarily restricted a credit union’s ability to provide the mortgage financing needed by their members and the communities that they serve.”
NAFCU still questions other aspects of the rule and is analyzing the impact to its members.