CUNA concerned with ‘flawed interpretation’ of NCUA lending study

NCUA Chairman Todd Harper testified before the House Financial Services Committee Wednesday, a day after his testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. CUNA submitted a letter for the record of the hearing, addressing several credit union priorities and expressing concerns over a recent NCUA study on credit union mortgage lending.

The study found small differences credit union mortgage pricing to minority borrowers—but the data ignores multiple key factors used in either pricing or underwriting by individual lenders.

“The data does not account for the fact that minorities may be selecting systemically different types of institutions when applying for loans and/or may be engaged in less ‘price shopping’ for favorable interest rates,” CUNA’s letter reads. “We fear that misguided initiatives based on this analysis may compel less rather than more progress on equity and equality issues we all care deeply about and, if broadly socialized, is quite likely to drive credit union members, especially minority members, away from consumer-friendly credit unions, producing far less favorable outcomes for many borrowers.”

CUNA supports:

 

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