CUNA: CUs Ask Obama 'What About Us?'

As President Obama met with bankers last week to discuss how they can help small businesses recover, CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica continued to reiterate that credit unions are doing their part and could be doing much more. “The only lobbyists who oppose giving credit unions the opportunity to do more small business lending represent the banks with whom the president met today,” Mica said. “That’s right: The same ‘fat cat’ bankers-as President Obama put it on national television Sunday night- who accepted billions of dollars of taxpayer money while restricting access to credit for consumers and small businesses, oppose allowing well-capitalized, not-for-profit credit unions to lend money to their small business-owning members.” Mica reiterated CUNA’s position that CUs could pump more than $10 billion into the economy if Congress would agree to expand credit union capacity to make business loans. “Were we in the room, the president could have easily pointed to us and said ‘these guys want to help-why can’t you be more like them?’” Mica said. Credit unions have urged Congress to support HR 3380, introduced by Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), to raise the statutory cap on business loans to 25% of assets from 12.25%, and treat as business loans only those of $250,000 or less.