NCUA offers additional insights into final FOM rule

The NCUA Monday published a new Letter to Credit Unions further detailing application requirements for credit unions interested in seeking a community charter under the recently finalized field of membership (FOM) rule to resolve litigation issues.

The changes made in the final rule address concerns flagged by the D.C. Court of Appeals’ August 2019 decision largely in favor of the NCUA in the American Bankers Association (ABA) lawsuit, which sought additional explanation of the NCUA’s decision to eliminate the urban-core requirement for local communities based on core based statistical areas. Putting an end to the litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court in June declined ABA’s petition to hear the lawsuit after the appeals court declined to rehear the case en banc.

In the Letter to Credit Unions, the NCUA notes that prospective and existing federal credit unions may begin applying Oct. 14 – when the rule takes effect – for a community charter using “a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) or portions of a CSA (within certain limitations, as defined in the rule) as a basis for defining their proposed service area without documenting how a CSA’s residents interact or share common interests.”

continue reading »