ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In official comment letters to NCUA, CUNA and NAFCU praised the agency for its quick turn around with the regulatory relief provisions to stretch the general loan maturity limit and authorize limited nonmember services, but said some clarifications are required.

Along the lines of the legislation, NCUA's interim rule would extend the general loan maturity limit from 12 to 15 years and permit federal credit unions to provide services like money orders and wire services to nonmembers within their field of membership. However, clarifications are necessary regarding permissible fees and required disclosures, the credit union trades wrote.

Both groups asked NCUA to refine its definition of “electronic funds transfer” and that the rule expressly states that institutions can charge a fee for selling negotiable checks such as travelers checks and money orders. NAFCU urged NCUA to define EFTs to mirror the one in the Fed's Regulation E and in the Bank Secrecy Act anti-money laundering definition of “transmittal of funds.”

CUNA also suggested adding change-counting machine usage as a permissible service for nonmembers; excluding nonmembers from privacy notices; and clarifying other regulatory and operational issues regarding privacy, anti-money laundering requirements, Truth-in-Savings disclosures, fraud concerns, and the ability of each federal credit union to determine for itself whether or not and to what extent it wants to offer services to nonmembers. CUNA recommended organizing a working group on this last issue.