Credit unions serving military personnel have seen a drop inconsumer loans, which trade groups attribute to regulationsdesigned to protect service members from lending abuses.

CUNA and an allied group, the Defense Credit Union Council, senta seven-page letter to the Defense Department to share data CUNAcollected on possible effects of the Military Lending Act (MLA) oncredit unions. They also repeated their call for the department tomake changes using interim final rules.

However, a law professor and former regulator said the changessought by credit unions involved narrow issues involving small sumsthat could create exceptions that could put service members atgreater risk of being exploited by predatory lenders.