Press
NAFCU letter in support for H.R. 4226, the Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act
March 17, 2014
The Honorable John Boehner
Speaker
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Leader
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Re: Support for H.R. 4226, the Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act
Dear Speaker Boehner and Leader Pelosi:
On behalf of the National Association Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU), the only national trade association that exclusively represents the interests of our nation’s federal credit unions, I write today to urge your support for H.R. 4226, the Credit Union Residential Loan Parity Act. This bipartisan legislation was introduced by Representatives Ed Royce and Jared Huffman to correct a discrepancy on how certain real estate loans are classified.
Currently, loans made for non-occupied 1-4 unit housing count against the arbitrary credit union member business lending cap because they are classified as a member business loan. However, at other financial institutions they are classified as residential real estate loans. Therefore, each loan made in this category by a credit union counts against a credit union’s arbitrary member business lending cap and reduces a credit union’s ability to lend to small businesses to help them grow and create jobs. Additionally, since these loans count against the member business lending cap, some credit unions may be forced turn down loans of this nature they might otherwise make. This legislation would address this discrepancy by exempting these loans from the credit union member business lending cap.
The relief this legislation would give to credit unions could help to both increase the amount of available credit to our nation’s small businesses and increase the availability of credit in the recovering but fragile housing market. We urge you and your colleagues to support this important legislation.
If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact me or NAFCU’s Associate Director of Legislative Affairs Quincy Enoch at 703-842-2261 or qenoch@nafcu.org.
Sincerely,
Brad Thaler
Vice President of Legislative Affairs
cc: Members of the U.S. House of Representatives