In a BankThink op-ed in the American Banker, the CEOs of the American Bankers Association and the Association of Military Banks of America wrote that if Congress truly wanted to help military personnel and their families, it should expand the financial service choices for service members by incentivizing more banks to operate on military bases.
Currently, tax-exempt credit unions are permitted to operate rent-free on military bases, while taxpaying banks do not. The authors argued that banks and credit unions should be granted equal treatment with regard to serving service members.
“As the Senate and House begin their work reauthorizing the National Defense Authorization Act, lawmakers must make this sensible change and push back against credit union lobbying that only limits the financial choices for service members and their families.”
The op-ed also noted that the recent decision by the National Credit Union Administration to presume all active duty military personnel as low-income does not provide any tangible benefits to struggling service members.
Read the op-ed.
I truly feel both you and the ABA need to read the actual language of NCUA's change in how they evaluate military members for low-income designation.
ReplyDeleteMilitary members still need to qualify for low income designation, they do not automatically qualify. Previously they were immediately excluded from consideration because they had an APO/FPO address and not a physical street address, which is used for evaluation purposes.
https://www.ncua.gov/regulation-supervision/letters-credit-unions-other-guidance/low-income-designations-qualification-military-personnel#ftn_2