MERRIFIELD, Va. — Navy Federal Credit Union has disaffiliated from the Virginia Credit Union League and CUNA in a principled protest over the League's chief lobbyist, Reggie Jones and the firm Williams Mullen, which also represents the Community Financial Services Association, the trade association for 60% of the country's payday lenders.

Senior Vice President of Planning for Navy Federal Ralph Yeatts confirmed the action, saying it was an evident conflict of interest to have credit unions represented in the Virginia General Assembly by the same person and firm that also forwarded the interests of payday lenders. "We see it as contradictory to share a lobbyist that puts forward the cause of payday lenders. We think it trivializes the credit union difference and demeans credit union philosophy. It's simply incompatible to be represented by a lobbyist who is also the chief spokesman for the payday lending industry."

Jones' 27-year relationship with the VCUL and efforts on behalf of the CFSA were revealed in Credit Union Times in a Sept. 19th story about Virginians Against Payday Loans (VAPL), an anti-payday lending grassroots organization that sought to combine efforts with the league.