Why Proposed North Carolina Credit Union Legislation (H187) Is Important To SECU Members.

  

Can you think of any reason SECU should be permitted to buy a bank?

😎 Take a look at what is going on according to Axios [for full article link]: 

"Why credit unions are buying bank."

✅  Nonprofit credit unions are buying record numbers of for-profit banks.

Felix Salmon [8/24/24]

✽ Why it matters: Until recently, a nonprofit couldn't own a for-profit — it seems to defeat the whole point —  but in recent years the walls between these two worlds have been breaking down.

✽ The big picture: Credit unions have many advantages over banks. They pay less in taxes and don't need to deliver profits to shareholders.

✽ By the numbers: By June 4 of this year, credit unions had acquired $7.2 billion of bank assets, per S&P Global. That's larger than any previous full-year total.

✽ Between the lines: The key question here is whether growing via acquisition means that a credit union has lost sight of its nonprofit mission.

✽ Where it stands: Credit Unions are officially constrained insofar as they can only offer banking services to specific fields of membership, but sometimes those fields of membership can be ridiculously large. 

"... it seems to defeat the whole point."

 

State House Bill (H187) Introduced To Permit Open Membership, Commercial Banking, Crypto (?) For Credit Unions

  [3/13/2025]

       Here We Go Again!

From BNC: "For the second time since 2023, North Carolina’s credit unions are trying to convince lawmakers to rewrite state law governing how the member-owned institutions operate." [For Full Article see here]

"Last month’s introduction of House Bill 187 [link to bill] has rekindled opposition from the North Carolina Bankers Association. The group's CEO, Peter Gwaltney, says the legislation “completely changes the purpose of what a credit union is designed to do, which is to serve people of modest means who share a common bond.”

"Support in the state House for nearly identical legislation didn’t carry over to the Senate last year. If enacted as currently written, the bill would “benefit those credit unions that want to operate like full-service banks, without paying corporate income taxes and franchise taxes like banks, or being subject to the similar examination and supervisory standards to banks,” Gwaltney says".

"The Carolinas Credit Union League ptiches the legislation as a way to restore financial services to economically distressed communities vacated by traditional banks. It’s seeking looser requirements for people to join nonprofit credit unions, creating opportunities for expansion into underserved “banking deserts” and serving people living at or below the poverty line, according to Dan Schline, the league’s president."

😎  For a chuckle, check here to see Mr. Schline's  "banking desert" location  in Western North Carolina! [link to the "desert"!]

On behalf of the Smokey bears, Yogi Bear(a) says: H187 is "Deja Vu all over again!"

😎 For a business/ commercial lending desert, check out Raeford, N.C. [link]

😎 For a refresh on the sleight-of-hand in the bill, here's the synopsis of the prior bill . [link H410]

  .... why not simply tell the truth?