WASHINGTON — NAFCU has written Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), the chairman and ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee reminding them that credit unions do not need to be covered by the Community Reinvestment Act.

The Committee is scheduled to conduct a hearing about the act today, in commemoration of the acts 30th anniversary.

“As you are aware, the Community Reinvestment Act was adopted as a punitive measure to punish specific bad actors–namely banks and thrifts–for engaging in discriminatory practices such as redlining and disinvestment,” NAFCU wrote in its Feb. 12 letter.

“Credit unions were not included under CRA because there has never been any evidence that credit unions have engaged in these illegal and abhorrent activities. Credit unions are inherently invested in their communities, operating unlike other depository institutions with a not-for-profit cooperative structure and a common bond membership,” the association wrote, adding: “As many have wisely noted, if all financial institutions acted like credit unions, there would be no need for CRA.”