Two Regulatory Final Rule Analyses

CUNA
July 7, 2010 | COMMENTS

Chartering and Field of Membership (FOM):Community Credit Unions

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) issued a final rule on the Chartering and Field of Membership (FOM) Manual, regarding community federal credit unions, for the effective date of July 26, 2010.

• The final rule removes the narrative application approach for establishing a “well-defined local community” (WDLC).
• Specifically, an area qualifies automatically as a WDLC if it is: a single political jurisdiction; a statistical area; or a grandfathered area.
• The new rule provides new criteria for a “rural district” that uses either rural census blocks or the population density.
• In addition, the final rule clarifies the requirements for the marketing plan that must be submitted by a new or expanded community charter applicant to demonstrate that it can serve the WDLC.
• The final rule also clarifies the criteria to determine the “danger of insolvency” standard for emergency mergers.

If you have any questions regarding the final rule, please contact Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Mary Dunn at mdunn@cuna.com or (800) 356-9655, extension 6736, or Regulatory Counsel Dennis Tsang at dtsang@cuna.com or extension 6733. A copy of the final rule on the Federal Register is accessible at this link.

> View the Full Final Rule Analysis at CUNA.org Here

Final Rule Implementing the CARD Act Provisions for Penalty Fees and Rate Reviews

The Federal Reserve Board has recently published the last final rule that implements provisions of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act).  The CARD Act was enacted last year, which prohibits and restricts a number of credit card practices.  This final rule will implement the provisions of the CARD Act that will become effective on August 22, 2010.  These include provisions that are intended to protect credit card users from unreasonable penalty fees and that require card issuers to reconsider interest rate increases every six months after the increased rate becomes effective.

> View the Full Final Rule Analysis at CUNA.org Here

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