WASHINGTON — Credit unions received over $5 million in technical and financial assistance grants from the U.S. Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund during the latest round of awards.

The awards hike the amount given to CUs by almost $2 million over last year, according to the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, which itself received $600,000.

The Federation said its award is intended primarily for secondary capital investments and Predatory Relief and Intervention Deposits (PRIDEs) in member CDCUs. The predatory relief deposits are considered “risk sharing deposits”, the Federation said, that can be used to collateralize loans made by credit unions to fight predatory or abusive lending.

The Federation shares the risk on these loans by assuming the risk on 25 to 40% of the loan principal. Any losses to those loans are shared pro-rata between the credit union and the Federation. When the deposits mature, the credit union repays the Federation the original deposit amount minus the Federation's share of losses realized on secured anti-predatory loans, the Federation explained.