Credit union consultant, blogger and Capitol Hill veteran Marvin Umholtz said the nation's growing political divide is apparent among credit union leaders and fuels comments he receives from his readers and colleagues. Umholtz, who said he isn't affiliated with either major party, blames Democrats and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for turning credit union leaders against progressive candidates. Umholtz said the Massachusetts Credit Union League's July 26 endorsement of Democrat Elizabeth Warren for U.S. Senate was particularly distasteful to credit unions, given her history with the CFPB.

“In my mind, Elizabeth Warren fits the category of a candidate who did damage to credit unions even worse than Durbin,” Umholtz said. The Olympia, Wash.-based consultant admitted his dislike of the CFPB and the Dodd-Frank Act may be extreme, but the bureau's new rules that were mandated by Dodd-Frank have done so much damage to the credit union business model, Umholtz said, that nobody who supported or voted for the bill should receive any credit union support this election season.

“That no support group includes many more Democrats than Republicans because of the highly partisan vote in 2010,” Umholtz said.