NCUA Chairman Todd Harper answered questions from America’s Credit Unions President/CEO Jim Nussle—and attendees— during Monday’s Congressional Caucus. Harper shared his views on several NCUA priorities, including NCUA’s latest collection of overdraft and non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees information on the call report for credit unions with more than $1 billion in assets.
Harper said he recognizes that overdraft is a “vital service,” but he has “a regulatory philosophy of transparency because I believe transparency is a good way to shine a light on issues.” Harper added that he sees the information as a way to provide credit unions information to benchmark their fees.
“Credit unions need to be working with their members,” he said. “I’m not against overdraft fees, I just want to make sure they are proportionally sized and reasonably applied.”
Responding to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Chevron doctrine, Harper said the agency would spend additional time when crafting rulemaking, including providing background information.
“It’s also going to make it harder to change things from what we’ve done,” he said, providing America’s Credit Unions’ recent request for NCUA to adopt a floating interest rate cap for federal credit union loans as one example.
“It’s a lot harder for us to make policy U-turns and make things like floating rates,” he said.
NCUA Vice Chairman Kyle Hauptman also spoke at Caucus Monday, asking for input about what he should prioritize before his term on the board expires in August 2025.
“Our regulatory framework should protect consumers from predatory practices, without depriving them of financial tools they need to navigate their lives,” he said.
He also credited consistent credit union advocacy for NCUA’s recent records retention proposal, which he said originated on calls with small credit unions expressing concerns over burdensome and lengthy recordkeeping requirements.
