WASHINGTON – Seeking an alternative way to pay for the NCUA's corporate credit union rescue plan to reduce the size of a premium, NAFCU President Fred Becker today asked the NCUA and the Treasury Department to urge Congress to allow corporates to access the Central Liquidity Facility.

The change would "provide much needed access to liquidity and capital for corporate credit unions and better enable the credit union industry as a whole to cope with the immense challenges it now faces," Becker wrote in a letter to NCUA Chairman Michael E. Fryzel. Becker wrote a similar letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Becker suggests amending the Federal Credit Union Act so that the phrase "liquidity needs" refers to more than just natural person credit unions. And changes the definition of "capital needs" to mean cash available to meet the needs of credit unions increase reserves and meet other needs of credit unions as determined by the NCUA board.