UPDATED ACTION ALERT ON MEMBER BUSINESS LEND ING Last week, you received an Action Alert requesting contacts to the White House, Treasury and Senate. That Alert is updated to target the White House and Treasury in response to President Obama's proposal earlier this week to inject $30 billion of TARP funds into community banks to enhance lending. Issue: Member Business Lending Background: A statutory cap of 12.25 percent of assets currently limits the volume of member business loans a credit union can hold. Legislation which would raise this cap to 25 percent is pending in both the House and Senate - H.R., 3380, the Promoting Lending to America's Small Businesses Act and S. 2919, The Small Businesses Lending Enhancement Act. This week, the President announced a plan to increase lending to small businesses by allocating $30 Billion in TARP funds to community banks. Although credit unions are in the position to lend to small businesses at no cost to the taxpayer, credit unions were not included in the President’s proposal. Credit Union Member Concerns: Credit unions with important experience in business lending are approaching their capacity to lend to small businesses. Credit unions need congressional action in order to lift the member business lending cap. MBL reform could provide up to $10 billion to small businesses in the first year alone and create over 108,000 new jobs at no cost to the taxpayer. The President should include credit unions in any proposal to increase business lending.
Action Needed : Please send a message to President Obama and Treasury TODAY urging them to lift the member business lending cap in order to increase lending. A prewritten letter is available for your use at the credit union Grassroots Action Center, http://capwiz.com/cuna/home/ where you can personalize and send an email or print and fax a letter. Secretary Timothy Geithner Department of the Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20220 Telephone: 202-622-2000 Fax: 202-622-6415
President Barack Obama 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461
Make sure your voice is counted! If you send a letter other than through CapWiz, please be sure to notify your league representative of your contact. Contact Will McCarty in Alabama or Mark Landreth in Florida. Thank you for your participation in this important Action Alert!