People may not realize that the Federal Credit Union Act authorizes that the Federal government may lease land or space to federal credit unions without charging rent.
Additionally, these federal credit unions may receive free lighting, heating, cooling, electricity, office furniture, office machines and equipment, telephone service (including installation of lines and equipment and other expenses associated with telephone service), and security systems courtesy of the American taxpayers.
The only caveat is that "at least 95 percent of the membership of the credit union to be served by the allotment of space or the facility built on the lease land is composed of persons who either are presently Federal employees or were Federal employees at the time of admission into the credit union, and members of their families, and if space is available."
To be honest, I don't know about the prevalence of this practice. But if credit unions are receiving subsidized rents at federal facilities, then this is an outrage.
Our country's fiscal condition is in dire straits. The federal deficit will be around $1.6 trillion this fiscal year and is projected to be above $1 trillion in next fiscal year. We cannot afford to subsidize the rents for federal credit unions.
This section of the Federal Credit Union Act needs to be repealed and credit unions should be required to pay market rents for the facilities they lease from the Federal government.
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I would hope/expect that the ABA would demand the same of banks that might receive similar benefits for a branch and/or ATM location. This "outrage" should be the same for credit unions or banks. Be careful of what you ask for when dealing with community banks, ABA.
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