Mortgage modifications, low-cost credit cards, alternatives topayday loans and strong financial literacy counseling are among theways Ohio's Wright-Patt CU helps its members improve theirfinancial health, Wright-Patt FCU President/CEO Doug Fecher willtell a Senate panel on Tuesday.

Fecher, who noted that the ratio of household debt to disposableincome is almost 120% compared with 80% 10 years ago, said his $2.1billion suburban Dayton credit union could meet the needs of morepeople if they had to spend less time complying withregulations.

“Since 2008, we've been given more than 160 new rules andregulations from some 27 different federal agencies,'' he will say,according to testimony obtained by Credit Union Times.“While credit unions would rather hire loan advisors and financialcounselors to help consumers improve their financial situation,we're instead hiring compliance officers to deal with the newrules. The largest banks have armies of attorneys to deal withthese regulations – we don't.''