You can regulate the money out of the business, butyou can't regulate the personal responsibility out of the consumer.No matter what Washington does to keep credit unions and otherlenders from taking advantage of the less well-educated, thedesperate and the elderly, ultimately consumers have to takeresponsibility for their actions.

It's a fine line to toe when you're charged with serving membersof modest means, pricing services like overdraft and payday loansto risk. But credit unions will likely lose members or potentialmembers to truly abusive competitors if they do not offer thoseservices. Then, credit unions will lose the opportunity to educatemembers and save them from themselves. Instead the regulatorsbelieve it's their job to tell consumers what's best for them.

The National Consumer Law Center has been particularly activelately in holding regulator and credit unions' feet to the fire.NCLC is pushing solutions that make it less cost effective to offeralternatives to the credit-challenged, and in the end, they'rehurting those they are purporting to protect. Even atnot-for-profit credit unions, products must pay for themselves orbe supported by others. In recent weeks NCLC attacked individualcredit union payday loan alternatives and overdraft services.