CURRENT Newsletter | 29 April 2021 - Virginia Credit Union League

With InfoSight and CU PolicyPro, your credit union has at its disposal a comprehensive suite of policies and regulatory compliance guidance written especially for credit unions by legal and financial experts.

For CU PolicyPro users, we have some big news! PolicyPro has been overhauled and upgraded and we believe that the new system will make customizing and managing your policies easier than ever! Now is a great time to review your CU PolicyPro system and remove any old, outdated, or unused content and update your user list.

For more information on the new CU PolicyPro and to get instructions on reviewing your data, visit our website!

Not familiar with CU PolicyPro? Learn more today!

CU PolicyPro Users: Training on Revamped System Set for May 4 & 11

Learn how to get the most from CU PolicyPro, an online resource with more than 230 credit union-specific model operations policies. With the forthcoming rollout of the new PolicyPro system, we’re offering training webinars on May 4 and 11.

Our May 4 session is designed to help users to take full advantage of CU PolicyPro’s policy management system. Learn how to customize the model policies for your credit union including defining key fields, best practices for formatting, and how to publish policies to share with your staff, board members and examiners.

The hour-long May 11 session focuses on the tools available in CU PolicyPro to keep policies up-to-date. Covered in this session are best practices for using editor notes effectively and understanding the available data fields. We will also take an indepth look at the content update process and how to use the CU Policies Report to audit your policies. Please note: this session does assume that users have a good working knowledge of the CU PolicyPro system and attending the New User Training course is recommended.

Register for the May 4 session
Register for the May 11 session (NOTE: You’ll want to attend the May 4 session if you don’t already possess a working knowledge of PolicyPro to get the most out of this session.)

Marketing Mixer Set for May 5

The Marketing and Business Development Council of Virginia will be hosting a FREE Marketing Mixer on May 5 from 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. Join your peers to discuss timely and relevant topics including Strategies for Growing Loans and Getting Back to Normal and Showing Up at the Office!

Marketing Mixers are designed to be informal discussions, and we encourage you to grab your drink of choice (a margarita in honor of Cinco De Mayo is fitting) and join your peers for an hour of professional networking and fun.

If you have additional discussion topics, please email them to Nicole Widell and we will add them to the agenda.

Join us for a chance to win one of two $25 Grub Hub Gift Cards. You must be present to win!

Turnkey Mortgage Solutions: Learn More About Our Partnership with CUMA During May 12 Webinar

Looking for a turnkey, customizable mortgage solution for your credit union? Credit Union Mortgage Association (CUMA), your League's newest business partner, boasts a 40-year track record of providing best-in-class mortgage-related services to credit unions of all asset sizes, including origination, processing, underwriting, servicing, closing and secondary market access.

The housing market is 'hot' right now and your members are looking for mortgage products. Make sure you're offering the right mortgage solution for every type of borrower.

Join us for a May 12 webinar (at noon) to learn more about CUMA and what they can do for your members!

CUMA is a full-service mortgage company, owned 100% by credit unions, exclusively serving credit unions.

Learn more about our partnership.

May 19 Meeting on State’s Broadband Internet Initiatives; Role CUs Can Play in Boosting Access

For the past two years, your League has been part of the Commonwealth Connect Coalition, which has brought together more than 80 groups dedicated to bringing universal broadband to Virginia within a decade.

On May 19 (9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.), the Coalition will join us for a virtual informational meeting on the role credit unions can play in advancing universal broadband access.

Access to high-speed internet touches almost every aspect of daily life and is a necessity for participating in modern life, a point driven home during the pandemic. Broadband access was a recurring theme in the calls we hosted with federal lawmakers and state lawmakers debated a half-dozen broadband bills this past session, half of which became law.

The Coalition is now soliciting financial support from businesses across all industries to gain access to federal funding to support the expansion of and access to broadband service.

“We believe this is an important initiative that supports our communities -- providing resources, access to services, education and so much more, including easier access to the wealth of services offered at our credit unions,” notes League President Rick Pillow. “As this initiative advances at both the state and federal levels, we believe it’s critical that credit unions are engaged and active supporters.”

Social Responsibility Awards: Get Recognized for Your Good Works!

The League-CUNA Social Responsibility awards are a way for you to showcase the extraordinary efforts you are taking to serve your members. The deadline is June 30!

There are four entry categories:

Desjardins Youth Financial Education Award for excellence in youth financial education
Desjardins Adult Financial Education Award for excellence in adult financial education
Louise Herring Philosophy in Action Award for excellence in member service.
Dora Maxwell Social Responsibility Award for excellence in community service and outreach.

Start your entry here. The time period covered for your application should be the calendar year through June 30, 2021. If you have additional questions after reading this FAQ, please don't hesitate to contact your League’s Mary Amyx - 800.768.3344, ext. 630.

Please Note Change in League Phone System

Your League has upgraded our phone system, which has necessitated a change in staff members’ extensions. We’ll now use a four-digit extension, instead of the three-digit system we’ve used for years.

Fortunately, the new system is easy to remember. All you need do is add a “1” in front of the three-digit extension you normally use. So, where you normally dial extension "629," for example, you'll now dial "1629." This is, of course, only necessary if you use the 800 toll-free number to reach us. You can continue to direct-dial any staffer at the League using our direct number with the 434 area code – 434.237.9629, as an example.

We’ve updated the League Staff Directory’s extension listing to reflect this change.

Advocacy / Governmental Affairs

Senate Intel Panel Working on Breach Notification Bill

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) announced upcoming legislation from his committee around mandatory data breach notification.

The Committee is working on a bill to create some form of limited data breach mandatory reporting for the private sector, with the goal of preventing future major foreign cyberattacks on critical organizations.

Warner said Tuesday that the legislation had grown out of public and private hearings held by the committee following the SolarWinds breach, which was believed to be carried out by Russian hackers and compromised nine federal agencies.

The federal government was made aware of the massive breach only when cybersecurity group FireEye, also compromised by the hackers, came forward in December to report the incident voluntarily, a move that wasn't legally required.

“This is what the committee is working on in a very bipartisan way,” Warner said during a virtual event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “Can we create a structure that would allow some limited mandatory reporting for government contractors and critical infrastructure that doesn’t get to the full data breach negotiations?”

Reps. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Michael McCaul (R-Texas) are also working on breach notification legislation, with McCaul saying at a House hearing in February that the bill would send information on data breaches from the private sector to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in a quasi-anonymous way.

Biden’s Economic Plan Would Redistribute Trillions, Expand Government

With his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan unveiled Wednesday—following his $2.3 trillion American Jobs Plan and his $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan—President Biden has proposed $6 trillion in new federal spending for the next decade. That is far more than any recent president at a comparable point in their terms.

Beyond expanding the size and scope of government, Mr. Biden’s program aims to redistribute trillions of dollars of resources from the highest-earning households and businesses to everyone making less than $400,000 a year.

He suggests doing so by undoing a portion of former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and high-income families. But Mr. Biden also wants to go further, giving the Internal Revenue Service more resources to scrutinize alleged tax avoidance, adding higher and different types of capital-gains taxes for certain investors, and hiking taxes on a popular form of Wall Street compensation known as carried interest.

Learn more

Compliance / Regulatory Affairs

CFPB Finalizes Delay of General QM Rule to October 2022

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) finalized the delay of the mandatory compliance date of the General Qualified Mortgage (QM) final rule to Oct. 1, 2022 (from July 1, 2021) Tuesday. The CFPB proposed the delay in February, and CUNA submitted comments with concerns about the uncertainty caused by the CFPB’s stated intention to review and revise the General QM definition.

CUNA believes the CFPB’s statement that it will review this rule and may initiate another rulemaking will have “a significant chilling effect” on compliance efforts to implement the General QM Final Rule on the part of creditors, their vendors, and secondary market participants.

Learn more

Financial Services / Economy

Loan Ratio, Yields To Hit Lows By Year-End; Membership Growth Slows, But CUNA Mutual Group Sees Better Days Ahead

The CU industry loan-to-share is expected to hit an eight-year low, and yield-on-assets ratio should hit an all-time low by year-end, according to a new forecast from CUNA Mutual Group. ROA is also expected to decline.

Meanwhile, lending at credit unions is projected to grow just 5% in 2021.

One bright spot: new-auto loan balances rose at a 0.1% pace in February, the first positive-growth number since July 2019, according to CUNA Mutual’s April Trends Report, which is based on CU data through February 2021.

Another bright spot: The CUNA Mutual forecast sees a much stronger economy ahead.

Learn more

Fed Holds Interest Rates Near Zero, Sees Faster Growth, Higher Inflation

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its easy money policy in place despite an economy that it acknowledged is accelerating.

As expected, the U.S. central bank decided to keep short-term interest rates anchored near zero as it buys at least $120 billion of bonds each month. The latter part of the policy is a two-pronged effort to support an economy that grew strongly to start 2021 as well as to support market functioning at a time when 30-year mortgages still go for around 3%.

Despite noting the economic strength as well as inflation that is on the rise, if just temporarily, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee unanimously decided to make no changes in its approach and gave no indications that things will change anytime soon.

Learn more

No Bubble in Housing Market, Fed’s Powell Says

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that concerns of a housing bubble are overblown, but that the central bank is closely monitoring surging home prices that could make it more difficult for entry-level borrowers to obtain mortgage loans.

The Fed has drawn some criticism for loose monetary policy, which some critics say has fueled the boom in the housing market as more borrowers compete for fewer available homes.

But Powell said Wednesday at a press conference after a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee that he doesn’t have any financial stability concerns about such a competitive real estate market. (American Banker, April 28)

Women, People of Color More Likely to be Financially Worse Off after Pandemic Year: Poll

Women and Americans in minority groups are more likely to say that their families are financially worse off now than before the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, according to a new poll.

In a Washington Post-ABC News poll published this week, 1-in-4 women said they are in worse financial situations than they were at the beginning of 2020, while just 18 percent of male respondents agreed.

People of color are also more likely to say that they faced job losses or pay cuts amid the pandemic, with 27 percent saying they are now financially worse off, compared to 18 percent of white respondents.

In general, about 1-in-5 respondents — 22 percent — told pollsters they are in worse financial straits than they were before COVID-19 hit, while just 14 percent said they are doing better and 64 percent said they are doing "about the same."

Learn more

CFPB Issues Consumer Complaint Bulletin with County-Level Demographic Data

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a new Complaint Bulletin analyzing complaints submitted by consumers in counties nationwide. In 2019 and 2020, the CFPB received more complaints on a per-capita basis from consumers living in predominantly minority counties than from consumers in predominantly white, non-Hispanic counties.

Learn more

Education & Training

New eSchool Teaches CUs How, Why to Implement DEI

Learn how a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strengthens credit unions, what emerging best practices look like and what resources exist to support your DEI journey by attending CUNA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion eSchool Part 2 in May.

The three-session eSchool is free to CUNA members. Attendees will learn how and why to implement DEI practices to best serve the people who interact with their credit union.

Learn more

CUNA Mutual Group Webinar: Navigating the Regulatory Landscape

CUNA Mutual Group is offering the following training opportunity on May 19: Navigating the Regulatory Landscape. Join this session to get tips for managing the latest regulatory and compliance trends.

Chapter News

Tidewater Chapter Charity Golf Tournament Tees Off June 4

The Tidewater Chapter will hold its 8th Annual Charity Golf Challenge on June 4 at Sewells Point Golf Course in Norfolk. ALL credit unions – regardless of location - are invited!

Format will be four-man captain’s choice. The cost will be $100 per player. Proceeds will benefit Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, our local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital! Please join us for this exciting event, which has raised more than $100,000 for CHKD during the past seven years.

Learn more / Register

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