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Thaler to lawmakers: Strengthen CUs’ ability to meet vets’ small biz needs
The House Small Business Committee today will discuss ways to support veteran-owned small businesses. Ahead of the hearing, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler reiterated that “[c]redit unions are an important resource for our nation’s veterans in their small business and entrepreneurial endeavors.”
“Service members develop broad expertise across many disciplines while in the military, learning skills that can provide tremendous value to the economy,” Thaler wrote. “After great personal sacrifice, these Americans deserve every opportunity for success in their transition back to civilian life.
“One way Congress can help is to support legislation that would provide relief to barriers that stand in the way of veterans accessing credit for small businesses. This includes the arbitrary credit union member business lending (MBL) cap that constrains our credit union members’ ability to help small businesses.”
Thaler noted legislation – the Veterans Member Business Loan Act – to address this issue has been introduced in the Senate, and NAFCU is working to get a companion bill introduced in the House. He also urged lawmakers to support the bipartisan Building Credit Access for Veterans Act, H.R. 1266, that would work to increase veterans’ access to capital for housing and small business loans through a pilot program to test alternative credit scoring models that better reflect veterans’ creditworthiness.
NAFCU consistently highlights credit unions’ commitment to serving the nation’s military members and advocates for policies that will allow the industry to better meet their needs.
The association is currently collecting stories about how member credit unions meet the needs of military members and their families to share on social media and in the association’s advocacy efforts with lawmakers and regulators. Through June 2, credit unions that share their impact and efforts via the online #NAFCUNation form will be entered to win a $1,000 donation made by NAFCU to the military-focused charity of the credit union’s choice.