Newsroom

April 24, 2014 – NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler yesterday attended a meeting with White House staff on housing finance reform – the most recent in a series of such meetings in which NAFCU has worked to ensure credit unions' interests.

Thaler and Obama administration staff discussed the concerns credit unions have about any transition to a new housing finance system and the importance of maintaining credit unions' access to the secondary mortgage market during such a transition.

Also Wednesday, Scott Moriarty, the head of mortgage lending at Affinity FCU (N.J.), and Bill O'Brien, CEO of Suffolk FCU (N.Y.) – both NAFCU members – attended a roundtable discussion with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan to discuss housing finance reform.

Earlier this week, Donovan endorsed the draft housing finance reform package proposed by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho. At an event hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center and the New York University Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, he called the package "the best chance we have this decade to achieve reform."

The White House Business Council roundtable on Wednesday was held in New York and coordinated by Business Forward and held at BNY Mellon. The White House Business Council coordinates the Obama administration's interaction with the business community.

NAFCU has pressed for small institutions to have equal, competitive access to the secondary mortgage market in any future housing finance system. It has also expressed concerns about the cost of the proposed reforms, uncertainty with moving toward a new system and made several specific recommendations with other financial trade organizations to improve the discussion draft.