When CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle implored more than 5,000credit union professionals at the GAC last week in Washington to goon the offense over the expected epic fight for regulatory relief,he knew he was speaking to the choir.

Nevertheless, Nussle hopes he gave them something to think aboutwhen they returned home. It's his hope that those credit unionprofessionals will remember his call to action, and in turn, willmotivate thousands more to join the credit union cause.

While it's uncertain whether Nussle's message will drive creditunion professionals to action, Washington insiders said creditunion leaders have more power to influence their congressionalrepresentatives than they may realize.

Barry Jackson, called by the national media as one of the mostinfluential figures in Washington and a force in Republicanpolitics for more than 20 years, participated in a GAC paneldiscussion about the expectations of the Trump administration,which is planning to give businesses regulatory relief.

“Let me tell you just from the get go. I have been doing thissince 1991 and I will tell you there is no entity that has morecredibility and has more power to move the needle on financialservices issues than credit unions,” said Jackson, who served aschief of staff for former House Speaker John Boehner and worked asan assistant strategic advisor to President George W. Bush. “It'sjust a fact. Everyone likes to talk about Jamie Dimon and JP Morganand Goldman and that's all great. But the power that you guys haveis remarkable.”

Jackson recalled being in the Roosevelt room in the White Housesitting across the table from former U.S. Treasurer Hank Paulson in2008 to discuss ways to address the financial crisis and to preventmillions of Americans from making a run on their banks.

Paulson recommended that the FDIC increase its insurancethreshold to insure bank accounts from $100,000 to $250,000.Jackson noticed, however, that Paulson didn't recommend the samething for credit unions.

“If the idea is to keep the regular Joe from taking his moneyout, why would you increase the insured accounts for the FDIC andleave the credit unions out?” Jackson asked Paulson. “We just gotinto this answer that well, you know, the real money is over here[at the banks] and this and that.”

“Well, OK, you do know we are going to have to do this becausethere is nobody more powerful, so we can either roll out with our[FDIC] plan and let the credit unions beat us to a pulp and win, orwe can roll out a plan like we're supposed to and be a hero tocredit unions,” Jackson said during the meeting. “It is entirely upto you.”

Jackson noted that credit unions hold the power because theyhave the votes at home.

Former U.S. Democratic Senator Mark Begich of Alaska, who is amember of three credit unions, agreed with Jackson during thestanding-room only GAC panel discussion about the Trumpadministration's expectations.

“When credit unions do their visits to Capitol Hill they may getdiscouraged because they are only meeting with staff, and they maywonder if it was worth it,” Begich said. “Let me just tell you itdoesn't matter who you meet with, it is worth it because if theydon't hear from you, it's out of sight out of mind. When you walkin, you represent thousands of people from your state or yourcommunity. That is a powerful tool, and the elected officials takenote of that. They understand that.”

Nussle is rallying the credit union troops to launch a focusedand concerted offense campaign for common sense regulations andagainst the “one-size-fits all” regulation system created byDodd-Frank and the CFPB.

“Each and every member that walks through your door feels thedifference as a result of what happened from Dodd-Frank,” Nusslesaid. “Some of it might have been right, some of it may have beenvery well placed, but quite a bit of it was to cover somebodyelse's behind.”

Gerry Agnes, president/CEO of the $1.7 billion Elevations CreditUnion in Boulder, Colo., who also serves on a CUNA subcommittee forregulatory relief, said even though the CFPB does not supervisecredit unions, the federal agency still has a huge impact on creditunions.

For example, the ability to repay mortgage regulations and thefull disclosure rules that includes three-day waiting periodrequirements is hurting consumers and financial institutions.

“The ability to repay rules are a great concept but the abilityto repay has disqualified some borrowers that otherwise could havequalified,” Agnes said. He also indicated there have beenunintended consequences from new full disclosure rules, includingthe three-day waiting period that has not necessarily benefittedconsumers.

Elevations is the largest residential lender in its primarymarket, Boulder and Broomfield counties. The credit union alsoexpanded its mortgage business into the Denver and Fort Collinsmarkets.

Moreover, Agnes took issue with the much maligned Durbinamendment.

“The Durbin amendment, ironically, weakened federally insuredfinancial institutions because it exported future capital from theinterchange fees and gave it to retailers to benefit theconsumers,” Agnes said. “The reasoning behind it is that retailerspromised to pass on the savings to consumers. I am a consumer, soI'll speak for myself, I haven't felt it, have you?”

On top of all that, Agnes pointed out, is that credit unionshave shouldered the hard costs and reputational risks of massivedebit and credit card breaches that originated from retailers.

“What should happen is that merchants must be held to the samelevel of accountability for protecting consumer data as financialinstitutions are,” he said. “That is a regulatory burden that wehave that they don't. And we bear not only the hard dollar costs toreissue credit and debit cards, but we also have the reputationalrisks around their breaches, and that to me needs to becorrected.”

With more than 58,000 board members, 273,000 credit unionprofessionals and 105 million members, Nussle pointed out that theindustry has the numbers to win the regulatory relief fight.

More than 400 credit unions are participating in a members'activation program to educate members about the credit uniondifference and the main issues that affect the credit unionindustry.

If all 400 credit unions ramp up their programs, the industrycould expect to leverage more than 20 million advocates, whichwould be more advocates than the AARP or the NRA, according toNussle.

“If we are going to have any chance in winning we are going tohave to engage members,” Nussle said.

He noted that because members trust credit union professionals,they have the best opportunities to get members involved.

“I need you in this fight. I need you to think about this. Wehave a chance this year like never before, but only if you tellyour story, if you teach it to everyone that is not only here buteveryone back home,” Nussle said.