March 1: Credit Union Legislation Would Make More Credit Available to Small Business

Kaptur, who co-chairs the House Jobs Now! Caucus, said credit unions can help fill the gap left by the mega-banks, “which even now seem to be more interested in gambling on high-risk instruments such as derivatives than providing credit to worthy customers.”

She noted that 30 credit unions are headquartered in the Ninth Congressional District.

Kaptur has joined a bipartisan effort to encourage House leadership, both Democratic and Republican, to make credit unions a key part of America’s economic growth strategy. In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader John Boehner, Congresswoman Kaptur, along with colleagues Paul Kanjorski (D-Pa.) and Ed Royce (R-Calif.), urged support for the Promoting Lending to America’s Small Businesses Act.

This bill (H.R. 3380) would double a credit union’s business lending cap to 25 percent of total assets. It would also credit unions to exempt from their business lending caps any loans of less than $250,000.

“These two steps would make substantially more credit available to creditworthy borrowers and accelerate the economic recovery,” said Kaptur.

“Raising the business lending cap for credit unions could provide an estimated $10 billion for new loans to small businesses and create approximately 100,000 new jobs—at no cost to the taxpayers.”

Kaptur said increasing competition in the marketplace for small business loans would also increase the efficiency of capital allocation. “Increased competition in the marketplace will help to ensure that all lenders treat their customers fairly,” she said.