Expanding credit union service to veterans

I hope you’ll take some time over the holiday weekend to honor those who have chosen to serve our country in the armed forces.

Military service brings its own set of financial challenges for servicemembers and their families, and credit unions pride themselves in meeting those needs.?

Abound Credit Union member Will Rivera, an Army veteran and owner of Running Soles in Elizabethtown, Ky., is one of many success stories. Abound Credit Union helped bring his dream to life and continues to be a valued partner as his business has grown.

Will told his story in a video message we sent to all members of Congress this week―an example of why credit unions need to be able to do more to serve local small businesses.

We called on Congress to support the bipartisan Veteran Member Business Loan Act to exempt loans to veteran-owned businesses from the member business lending cap and help us create more stories like Will’s.

Saluting the veterans in our movement

Credit Union Magazine’s annual Salute to Veterans, sponsored by Federal Home Loan Banks, highlights stories from veterans who found our “people helping people” philosophy aligned with their goals. They share how they’ve taken lessons they learned in the military and applied them to make our movement better.

Read A Salute to Veterans here

Credit Unions Vote launches for 2024 cycle

We launched our Credit Unions Vote initiative this week, with less than a year to go until the 2024 elections. This includes updating CreditUnionsVote.com, a resource where you can find information on registration status, polling location, candidates, and more. We’re also working with Member Activation Program (MAP) credit unions, providing them with a toolkit to get their members engaged with CreditUnionsVote.com.

Read about the initiative here

Economic Update covers rising delinquencies

CUNA Chief Economist Mike Schenk talks about big spikes in consumer delinquency rates in our latest Economic Update. Mike shares how consumer financial stress is rising and how credit unions can be pro-active in reaching members who might be experiencing trouble, especially those with lower credit scores at loan origination.

Watch the Economic Update here

Fed event focuses on serving unbanked

The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland is hosting a free online event Nov. 15 to better understand challenges faced by unbanked individuals and why they don’t hold bank accounts, as well as solutions to reaching them. The “Financial Inclusion and the Unbanked” FedTalk will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. ET and will include a question-and-answer session.

Register for the event here

360-degree advocacy

• The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee advanced the nomination of Tanya Otsuka to serve on the NCUA Board.
• We submitted comments on the Department of Labor’s overtime proposal, noting it would adversely affect small and rural credit unions and asked DOL to reconsider whether automatic updates to the threshold are necessary.
• We joined NAFCU in calling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Fair Credit Reporting Act Proposals an unwarranted expansion contrary to Congressional intent.
• Credit union-supported Gabe Amo (D) was elected to the U.S. Congress in Tuesday’s special election in Rhode Island’s 1st Congressional District.