House passes bill that would increase FOM options

The House on Wednesday passed legislation that would, among other things, allow all federal credit unions to expand their fields of membership to serve underserved areas.

Voting 215-207, the House passed H.R. 2543—legislation that attempts to address what Democrats have identified as long-standing inequities in the financial services industry. The credit union provision is one section of the larger bill.

The bill would expand the ability of all federal credit unions to serve underserved areas, that is, census tracts in which 85% of the area qualifies as low-income or areas that are more than ten miles from the nearest branch of a depository institution. The bill also would exempt business lending in those areas from the credit union member business lending cap.

Passage of the measure followed defeat of an amendment by House Republicans to kill several sections of the bill, including the FOM expansion section.

 

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