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House Small Business Committee Chairman Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, on Friday encouraged NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz to take additional steps to better facilitate credit unions' member business lending efforts.

Chabot wrote the agency chairman to state his continued support for legislation that would raise the credit union MBL cap. Along those lines, he told Matz of his "interest in ensuring the regulatory environment credit unions face in this regard is as conductive as possible to making the kind of loans our economy so desperately needs."

NCUA has indicated it is looking to provide credit unions relief. Meanwhile, Chabot is suggesting that NCUA "take a closer look" at credit unions with a history of member business lending.

Chabot noted, for example, that he is concerned the agency board is too narrowly interpreting the Federal Credit Union Act's limit on MBLs. He also suggested that NCUA expand opportunities for healthy credit unions to obtain MBL waivers. "MBL regulations should be amended to expand a credit union's ability to obtain an individual or blanket waiver," he wrote.

"NAFCU thanks Chairman Chabot for his work supporting credit unions' member business lending," said NAFCU Director of Legislative Affairs Jillian Pevo. "We hope his letter will encourage NCUA to continue examining the issue and provide whatever relief it can to credit unions in this area."

NAFCU has a strong history of supporting credit union MBL authority and continues to support a statutory increase in the MBL cap. It also supports alternatives to a straight MBL cap lift, such as raising the minimum loan amount that would count against the MBL cap.