Tuesday, October 13, 2015

100 Percent Financing of Taxi Medallions Could Indicate Future NCUSIF Losses

An online survey by Credit Union Times found that a large majority of the respondents believe that taxi medallion loans will result in a loss to the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF).

Seventy-three percent of the respondents believe that taxi medallion loans will result in a loss to the NCUSIF, while 27 percent of the respondents don't believe these loans will result in a loss to the NCUSIF.

However, that 27 percent may want to reconsider their position based upon recent research from HVM Capital.

HVM Capital found that some credit unions, as well as other lenders, may have actually financed some medallion sales at above-market prices -- in order to inflate the value of their current holdings at higher prices.

According to HVM Capital, these lenders provided 100 percent financing for taxi medallions and refused to finance taxi medallions that sold for much lower prices. The report specifically identifies Montauk Credit Union and LOMTO Federal Credit Union as providing 100 percent financing.

Providing 100 percent financing for collateral that is falling in value does not appear to be a sound banking practice. Moreover, unless these credit unions received a waiver from the maximum loan-to-value requirement, then these credit unions are in violation of the National Credit Union Administration's Member Business Loan requirement.

This report was written before Montauk Credit Union was seized in September and placed into conservatorship. While I don't know the ultimate fate for Montauk, the odds are much higher today that three months ago that the credit union will end up in receivership.

Also, it is likely that the pain from taxi medallion loans will spread to other credit unions, as many credit unions have bought participations in these loans.

Read the research.

1 comment:

  1. When a financial institution gets into trouble, leadership becomes desperate to "fix it". And desperate people do desperate things. Clearly that's the case in this situation. Banking regulators don't wait around to take over a failing bank, they act quickly. NCUA would be well served to pay attention to how it's done on the other side. They won't be treated as grown-ups by the Treasury until they act like grown ups.

    ReplyDelete

 

The content is provided for educational purposes only, with the understanding that neither the authors, contributors, nor the publishers of this site are engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other expert or professional services. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Comments appearing in response to articles appearing on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the ABA. ABA makes no representations regarding the truth or accuracy of commentary or opinions that may be posted in response to the articles that appear on this website.

The inclusion herein of any link to a website, either in the text of an article or in a comment, does not denote any approval, sponsorship, or endorsement by the ABA, and ABA is not responsible for the content or opinions expressed on those linked websites or related commentary. This content is not licensed to third parties sites and is not affiliated with any third party site. Any reference to the author or this content on any third party site on the Internet is not authorized by the ABA.

It is the policy of the American Bankers Association to comply fully with all antitrust laws. Certain discussions should be considered off-limits, including those that contain competitively sensitive data such as price and cost information, or statements that could be construed as reflecting an attempt or desire to control or influence a particular market or markets. Future pricing or other prospective competitive information should never be shared.