CLEVELAND-News that Congressman Ed Royce (D-Calif.) had introduced a bill that would exempt faith-based institutions from the 12.25% lending cap on member business loans contained in H.R. 1151 (CU Times, June 28) was just arriving here at Faith Community United Credit Union, where Rita Haynes is treasurer/manager. That didn't stop her from welcoming the idea, however. Haynes, who is also the newly-elected chair of the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions (NFCDCU) and the chair of NFCDCU's Faith-Based Credit Union Program's advisory committee, greeted the idea warmly. Pushed by the California and Nevada Credit Union League, which represents several large church-credit unions, the bill picked up many co-sponsors from those states, both Democrats and Republicans. Haynes told Credit Union Times that communication between the board of NFCDCU and the California League has been close. "During the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC) our board had a lunch with the California League where we discussed several initiatives. It was very productive. We had a lot of interests in common. And I have the greatest respect for Chris Kerecman, (CCUL's VP of Federal Governmental Affairs)," said Haynes. (Kerecman recently attended NFCDCU's annual meeting in Denver.) Royce's bill, titled The Faith-Based Lending Protection Act (H.R. 4701) would cancel the Credit Union Membership Act's restriction on member business loans to 12.25% of total assets for faith-based institutions. Hayne's could see a real advantage in that. "Our credit union is made up of a number of churches. When one of the church's need a loan, the cap sets in. What do we do? Sometimes, we have to send them to a bank." Although Haynes said she has never had a church loan go bad, banks very often give the churches a hard time, if they make the loan at all. That's especially true in low-income areas that are predominantly black. "I know that Evangelical Christian Credit Union (Anaheim, Calif.) is also made up of member churches, so they feel that crunch as well. They are really limited." Haynes added that her credit union's membership also consists of the members of the churches, so is balanced somewhat. "We aren't as hurt by that limitation, but the cap is still unfair." Adding that she hadn't had time yet to discuss the bill's prospects with her board, she said it sounded like something it would likely support. "Right now, there's a big push for churches to open up day care centers and schools. It's all about assisting the the education of our children, and those things can't be done without funding." Being able to make loans to churches to meet those goals may be key to a greater accomplishment, said Haynes. To that task, if the board takes it on, she'd be ready to initiate a grassroots effort to have Congress pass Royce's bill. -
caburger@cutimes.com
