America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle wrote the Senate Banking Committee ahead of its annual oversight hearing of federal housing regulators, flagging that credit unions are an essential partner to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
“During 2023, credit unions originated $105 billion in first-lien mortgages, and they sold more than 25% of those mortgage loans into the secondary market,” he wrote. “Therefore, credit unions have a considerable interest in ensuring that the FHFA-regulated entities, which include the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (collectively, the Enterprises) and the Federal Home Loan Bank System (FHLBanks), operate effectively and efficiently and satisfy their core missions to benefit low- and moderate-income borrowers and communities.”
Nussle expressed the organization’s support for the FHFA’s decision to rescind changes to its guarantee fees, adding that “any change to the single-family pricing framework, including any change to guarantee fees, requires transparency and industry engagement.” He also noted that access to FHLBanks is key for credit unions as critical sources of liquidity.
In addition, he stressed credit unions’ work to close gaps in housing access.
“Credit unions have long had a history of rent-to-own programs; first time homeowner programs; financial literacy and wealth building programs to assist millions of Americans on their path to financial well-being,” wrote Nussle. “Data consistently shows that credit unions are at par or exceed our for-profit counterparts in the financial services marketplace.”
Nussle concluded by urging the committee to modernize field of membership restrictions to allow credit unions to serve more Americans and improve access to housing.
