ALEXANDRIA, Va. — On Feb. 8, NCUA clarified the member businessloan two-year rule in a recent legal opinion letter (08-0128).

Stating that credit unions may use an outside underwriter or oneof their own employees, NCUA was succinct in its guidance that if acredit union were to use its own employee, the credit union'semployee must have two years of direct experience in memberbusiness lending.

According to NCUA, “the experience must provide the credit unionsufficient expertise given the complexity and risk exposure of theloans in which the credit union intends to engage. Credit unions donot have to hire staff to meet the requirements of this section butmust ensure that the expertise is available. A credit union canmeet the experience requirement through various approaches. Forexample, a credit union can use the services of a credit unionservice organization.”