Actions needed now to head off deeper, longer crisis
NCUA and Congress should take further steps to ensure credit unions remain in position to serve members during and after the pandemic, CUNA wrote to the House Financial Services Committee Thursday. NCUA Chairman Rodney Hood testified at the hearing, which also featured discussion of two CUNA-backed bills.
The Access to Credit for Small Businesses Impacted by the COVID-19 Crisis Act (H.R. 6789) would exempt credit union business loans related to the pandemic from the member business lending cap for one year; and The Preventing Regulatory Penalties for PPP Lenders Act (H.R. 8675) would prevent regulatory penalties for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lenders.
“Significant looming stress reflected in the Census Bureau Household and Small Business Pulse Surveys suggests the NCUA and Congress should act now to head off a deeper and longer lasting crisis—and to ensure that credit unions maintain their ability to effectively intervene and help members navigate through the mounting near-term risks,” the letter reads. “Therefore, as Congress contemplates further COVID-recovery legislation and exercises its oversight responsibilities over the Federal financial regulators, it is critical that policy be examined and modified to ensure credit unions remain in a position to serve their members throughout and after this crisis.”
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