Member Business Lending

Credit unions have been making member business loans (MBLs) since their inception in the early 1900s. The current MBL cap was imposed by Congress in the Credit Union Membership Access Act of 1998. This arbitrary cap limits most credit unions to lending no more than 12.25 percent of their assets to small businesses without any economic, safety and soundness, or historical rationale. America’s Credit Unions strongly supports credit unions’ ability to make business loans, and we have backed legislation to increase the de minimis threshold under the MBL cap, exempt loans made to veterans from the MBL cap, and increase maximum loan maturities.