NASCUS Addressing Congressional Request for State Credit Union Data

Mary Martha Fortney

In a March 22 letter to NASCUS, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-CA) requested that NASCUS ask state regulators to gather information on a representative sample of state credit unions. As a part of its oversight of tax-exempt entities, the Committee is taking a close look at credit unions’ use of their tax-exemption.

The Committee wants to understand how state-chartered credit unions, which account for 40 percent of the nation’s credit unions, serve their members.

While the request was a surprise to some, NASCUS had anticipated that the Committee would ask states to provide information as a part of its oversight. Since January, NASCUS actively communicated to the Committee and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that state and federal charters differ, and that understanding dual chartering would be critical to appropriately analyzing any data collected.

The Committee asks that state regulators gather information from a representative sample in the following areas: membership, executive compensation, credit union service organizations (CUSOs) and unrelated business income tax (UBIT).

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) launched its pilot data collection program for federal credit unions in March. NASCUS understands that the information being gathered by the NCUA is similar to the state information requested by the Committee.

NASCUS is committed to addressing the Committee’s request and cooperating with Congress, as we have cooperated in the past. Of course, NASCUS cannot mandate participation, but we are committed to helping the states fulfill this request of Congress.

In the past several weeks, NASCUS leadership discussed the request with its Board, regulator and Advisory Council members. More than 25 states participated in a recent national regulators teleconference to discuss the issue and regional teleconferences are planned for the Credit Union Advisory Council members to provide feedback.

A NASCUS Board task force is looking at data collection methodologies to gather the requested information. The task force intends to create one model method for voluntarily participation by the states. The task force is continuing discussions with the NCUA and with Massachusetts and Connecticut state regulators on the data collection methodologies. The goal is to ensure that objective and factual information is provided to the Committee.

NASCUS is planning additional teleconferences for state regulators and Credit Union Advisory Council members as the issue progresses. NASCUS will keep its members informed every step of the way. I encourage you to contact me with concerns or questions. I can be reached by email at marymartha@nascus.org or by phone at (703) 528-0669.

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