Recognizing Tax Day, CUNA style

Proactively working against potential tax threats

Monday marks Tax Day this year, and as usual, banks are up to their dishonest tricks about the credit union tax status. While these attacks show up like clockwork each Tax Day, this year CUNA, Leagues, and credit unions are prepared to aggressively push back against any tax threats which might come as local, state, and federal governments look to make up budget shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The facts and data are on our side. America’s credit unions provided nearly $13 billion in benefits to more than 120 million members in 2020. That’s the equivalent to $107 per member. Non-members also saw billions in savings simply due to credit unions’ competitive positioning in the marketplace.

All told, CUNA research shows that credit unions provide a national economic benefit that’s nearly 9 times the so-called “cost” of the credit union tax status.

Every day, we advocate on your behalf, ensuring you can provide the credit union difference for folks in good times and bad.

CUNA members can view a national and state-level breakdown of credit union member benefits on our website.

Log in to see data from your state

New report: More than half of credit union CEOs are women

A majority of U.S. credit union CEOs – 51% to be exact – are women, according to CUNA research. This is 15 times higher than is the case with banks at 3%. While this is great news for our industry and our movement, we are still working hard to strengthen our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Read the full issues brief >

Nominations open for 2022 Herb Wegner Memorial Awards

Nominations are now open for the 2022 Wegner Awards! As Gigi Hyland, executive director of the National Credit Union Foundation, said, “2022— the year we will be back together in person to celebrate our credit union movement!” Nominations can be made for outstanding individual or organization achievement and will be presented during the 33rd annual Herb Wegner Memorial Awards on Monday, Feb. 28.

Learn more here >

Texas, Oklahoma expand Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union

The Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union? campaign continues to gain momentum. This week, Credit Union Awareness announced an expansion of support across Texas and Oklahoma with the addition of several new contributing credit unions. Thanks especially to Cornerstone League President/CEO Caroline Willard for her support of this innovative campaign and for her leadership in opening consumers’ eyes to the credit union difference. Credit Union Awareness Executive Director Chris Lorence wrote a great piece this week in Credit Union Times summarizing key learnings from the past three years of the Open Your Eyes to a Credit Union? campaign that excite, inform, and evolve their mission.

Read the op-ed here >

360-degree advocacy

• The Senate voted to repeal the CUNA-opposed “true lender” proposal via the Congressional Review Act. 
• We called on NCUA to finalize pending rulemakings on the capitalization of interest proposal, and the transition to the CECL Methodology 
• We wrote to the CFPB saying that its proposed foreclosure moratorium is unnecessary, overbroad, and likely unconstitutional. 
• We asked Congress to carefully assess the costs and benefits of imposing any new tax data collection regimes. 
• We opposed a House-passed bill that would overturn a 2019 unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision on debt collection. 
• We told NCUA that while we continue to believe its risk-based capital rule is functionally unnecessary, we support an approach that gives credit unions maximum flexibility. 
• We support NCUA’s proposal to add an “S” for sensitivity risk to the CAMEL Rating System.