For the second year in a row, credit unions increased their mortgage origination share. The gain spurred speculation the financial cooperatives might face a legislative effort to force them to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act.

Congress passed the CRA in 1977 to encourage banks to meet the credit needs of the communities they serve, particularly low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The law came as the result of criticism banks withheld loans from those areas, a practice known as redlining. Congress substantially revised the legislation in 1995 and 2005, according to the Federal Reserve Board.

A Federal Reserve Bulletin article, published in draft on the Fed's website, analyzed data collected under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act in 2014, and noted the credit union industry's growing mortgage market share.