by
Joshua D. Scroggin
The financial crisis that took hold in 2008 left a lasting effect on the entire country.
Books have been written and movies made on the risky loans that started it all, the financial fraud that covered them up and the government bailouts that cost the country $700 billion.
One of the most enduring consequences of the housing market crash is increased government regulation and oversight into lending practices.
It all seems to make sense. Greed and corruption by Wall Street banks led to the collapse. Taxpayers ended up having to save the day. Let’s do what’s needed to ensure a calamity like this doesn’t happen again.
Only, the one-size-fits-all laws put in place unfairly lump responsible and community-focused credit unions like CoastHills in with the megabanks that lost the public’s trust in the first place.
Tens of billions of dollars in federal bailout money were handed out to each of the country's largest banks, and credit unions were mostly on the sidelines.
CoastHills Credit Union did not accept a cent of bailout funds. We didn’t need to.
We faced extreme challenges during the crisis just like everyone else, but CoastHills also thrived during the recession. When many banks stopped lending, we continued to help members buy the cars they needed to get to work. We continued lending to small businesses to help support the local economy.
We don’t need government watchdogs to protect our members from the interests of our owners because our members are our owners.
And when CoastHills has to spend time and resources to comply with complicated legislation that really wasn’t intended for the Credit Union in the first place, it only ends up costing you money.
You have to wait longer for your loans to close, and rates have to rise to compensate for the increased costs of processing them.
In some cases, the government has made it easier to get money from predatory lenders than the community institutions that only exist to help people achieve their financial dreams.
In California alone, excessive government regulation has cost credit unions $626.8 million and cut revenue by $160.3 million. That’s a total impact of $78 per member to the more than 10 million Californians who belong a to a credit union.
Things don’t have to stay this way. Your elected representatives have the power to enact common sense legislation to help credit unions provide the services and products our members need.
It’s easier than you think to take action.
Get the facts on the excessive government oversight and how it’s affecting you. It only takes a minute to contact your congressional representatives to let them know you support common sense lawmaking when it comes to credit unions.