The regulatory landscape plays a pivotal role in determining whether credit unions are best positioned to fulfill their mission: empowering Americans to achieve their financial dreams. Each new administration brings policy shifts—some beneficial, others harmful—that directly impact financial institutions. America’s Credit Unions works hard to establish relationships with policymakers across the ideological spectrum so that regardless of who’s in office, we have connections in place to have meaningful conversations.
What harms the American people are regulations that ignore the credit union difference—policies that lump these member-driven institutions in with predatory actors, and, even worse, place barriers between credit unions and the consumers who need them most.
Hampering credit union access ignores the fact that credit unions are the original consumer protectors. They were created to serve people the big banks were leaving behind—a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found 35% of credit unions’ branch openings were in banking deserts. And, they uphold that vital mission to this day, all over the country.
For regulators, trying to protect consumers while sidelining credit unions is like fighting with one arm tied behind their back. It’s a preventable limitation.
Instead, fostering increased access to credit unions and the services they provide helps regulators to better protect consumers, ensure the success of Main Street, and unleash the power of the American economy.
Conversely, treating credit unions like big banks, unregulated fintech, or systemic threats to the financial services ecosystem only harms the consumers that regulators are mandated to help.
Credit unions’ decades of service to rural communities and minority populations, combined with their willingness to explore new ways to reach those communities, grow the economy as they find new ways to help people afford a house, pay for education, or start a small business.
Simply put: more access to credit unions means better financial outcomes. Every piece of data from consumers and financial transactions shows that to be true:
- 89% of members say their credit union has improved their financial well-being;
- 87% say it is easy to get a loan, versus 68% of non-members;
- Deep subprime auto borrowers financing at a credit union save more than $10,000 during the typical 72-month auto loan (CFPB Consumer Credit Card Market Report)
- Mortgage borrowers who finance at credit unions save as much as $35,000 over the life of a typical 30-year mortgage (Mid-year 2023 Equifax data analysis)
America’s Credit Unions’ policy priorities for 2025 are to continue to protect, empower, and advance the needs of credit unions and their members nationwide. With big changes to the regulatory landscape underway, America’s Credit Unions is writing letters to newly appointed directors and chairs from agencies ranging from the Federal Reserve to the Federal Communications Commission. These letters—nearly a dozen so far—focus on the key issues at hand for each individual agency.
The big picture: increased fraud protection, right-sized regulations, and digital asset development are essential to credit unions’ future relevance and should be the foundation of future policy discussions.
More specific concerns range from the major (halting the Federal Reserve’s debit interchange proposal), to the more technical (modernized thresholds and forms), but each of these have one thing in common: they would lead to a regulatory climate that allows credit unions to focus more time and resources on people, not paperwork.
There have already been promising signs. Upon taking over at the bureau, CFPB Acting Director Scott Bessent said he looks forward to “accelerating economic growth” and initiated a freeze of all bureau regulatory activity, something America’s Credit Unions has requested.
A recent Executive Order aimed at deregulation acknowledges the negative effects overregulation have on small business and consumer choice. We’ve engaged with the administration on this subject since the election.
Thriving credit unions mean a thriving Main Street. It means small businesses have access to the capital they need, and credit unions can innovate responsibly using artificial intelligence and other technologies to reach more people than ever before.
We ask every federal financial regulator to follow this commonsense approach: follow the data, protect consumers, and support credit unions.
