The mission of credit unions is prettystraightforward: Promote thrift and provide access to creditfor provident purposes, utilizing a not-for-profit, cooperativeownership structure. Credit unions exist to serve theirmembers, not to make a profit for shareholders.

Unfortunately, credit unions today face several obstacles tofulfilling this mission, impeding them from offeringconsumer-friendly products and services to consumers, andinnovating products to meet the evolving needs of themarketplace.

In the wake of the financial crisis, regulations coming from theCFPB and other agencies in Washington have been one-size-fits-all,subjecting credit unions, in many cases, to the same regulationsaimed at curtailing self-admitted bad behavior by Wells Fargo, Bankof America, payday lenders and other abusers of consumers.

Credit unions were highly regulated before the financial crisisand never engaged in the abusive behavior that prompted thecreation of the CFPB and the numerous rules promulgated from theagency, which swept all financial institutions into the same bucketas consumer abusers. Due to the bureau's one-size-fits-allapproach, credit unions were forced to spend $6.1 billion between2013 and 2015 coming into compliance with rules intended for WallStreet.

As a result of this resource drain, credit unions have hadto pull back some consumer-friendly offerings and have been impededfrom innovating. Overly broad rules have forced half of the creditunions that offer remittance services to leave the market orcurtail offerings, and new mortgage rules have had a similarimpact, making it more difficult to lend to consumers in need.

Over the past few months, the CFPB has slowed their firehose ofnew regulations. But, just as things were looking up, a newthreat to consumer access to credit union services hasemerged: Frivolous litigation.

Credit unions are finding themselves the target of predatoryplaintiffs' attorneys because their relatively small size makesthem an attractive target – they have fewer resources to fightfrivolous claims and may be more likely to simply settle with thepredator law firm rather than fight the baseless claims.

Over the past few months, hundreds of credit unionsall over the country have received demand letters or been subjectto legal action from a California-based law firm demandingimmediate payment of thousands of dollars alleging violations ofthe Americans with Disabilities Act on their websites. There ismuch confusion in this space because neither Congress nor theDepartment of Justice, the federal agency charged with creatingrules in this area, have created any clear standards for websiteaccessibility and the only guidance is a private industry standard,WCAG 2.0 AA. Many credit unions are following or working towardthis standard, but the attorneys bringing these cases have nointerest in giving time and guidance that could serve consumers.Instead, they are racing to the court house to extract settlementsand fees.

Similarly, credit unions are being targeted by plaintiffs' firmsfor highly technical violations alleged under the TelephoneConsumer Protection Act when contacting their own member owners viacell phone or text message. The D.C. Court of Appeals agreed thismonth that more clear-cut and “reasonable” guidance is needed underthe TCPA. Consumers want to receive information from theirfinancial institution, especially in the cases of fraud alerts,account updates and other pertinent matters.

More recently, credit unions have also been threatened withlitigation under a different legal theory for allowing theirmembers the convenience of depositing their checks via mobilebanking apps. Credit unions are being sued for making banking moreconvenient.

Credit unions have always been for common senseregulation. They are trying to do right by consumers, but theyneed to have the ability to come up for air between legal threatsand thousands of pages of new rules to be able to continually,successfully serve consumers and provide innovative newproducts.

CUNA will continue our legal advocacy efforts seeking clarity onthe many legal issues impacting credit unions in the courts. Wewill also continue with our 360-degree advocacy strategy advocatingfor Congress, the Justice Department and other agencies to takeappropriate steps to make sure that credit unions are ableto serve their members without unnecessary regulatory burdenor fear of predatory litigation.

Ryan Donovan is Chief Advocacy Officer for CUNA. He can bereached at 202-508-6750 or [email protected].