Thousands of credit union advocates from every state and the District of Columbia conducted more than 600 meetings on Capitol Hill in conjunction with the 2024 Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC), bringing the credit union difference directly to legislators and regulators.
Interchange was the number one topic of discussion in meetings, particularly after the bipartisan letter from more than three dozen members of Congress to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell questioning the potential negative impacts of the Fed’s debit interchange proposal.
Credit unions urged members of Congress to look deeper into both the proposal and noted introduction of a credit union-supported bill during GAC that would halt implementation of the bill until its impact is analyzed.
Opposition to the Big Box Bailout bill was also a major topic, with credit unions noting both the bill and proposal put interchange revenue in serious jeopardy, which in turn could hamper access to credit.
Advocates shared how interchange revenue barely covers fraud costs; one told their representative they replace 7,000 payments cards per month.
The general need for regulatory relief – from everything to the CFPB’s onerous rulemakings to the need to update the Currency Transaction Report threshold for the first time since the 1970s – the credit union difference, and more were discussed during the meetings with lawmakers.
