Report deals credit unions a blow

Harris Simmons, chairman of Zions Bank and past president of the American Bankers Association, said the GAO's findings "are spot-on in terms of who they (credit unions) serve, and they're spot-on in highlighting the fact that the large, aggressive credit unions are not — that the market focus of these large, aggressive credit unions is not the traditional individual of modest means for whom credit unions were established."

Howard Headlee, president of the Utah Bankers Association, said that "history clearly shows that credit unions were given a tax exemption in order to help the poor gain access to credit. However, 70 years later, this GAO report demonstrates just how much things have changed.

"Banks now do a better job of serving the poor while the large credit unions use their tax subsidy to build gorgeous branches in wealthier neighborhoods," Headlee said. "In fact, the decrease in the large credit unions' service to the poor and the corresponding increase in their wealthier members has occurred at the exact same time they have repeatedly expanded their membership boundaries beyond those allowed by law. Amazingly, some credit union advocates have publicly claimed that their expansion is aimed at serving the poor. Perhaps they should start by serving the poor in the areas where they currently operate."

Headlee and Simmons say that their beef is with a fairly small subset of the credit union industry but that the matter has risen to a level that calls for congressional action.

But what action may follow remains unknown.

The November elections shifted the balance of political power in Washington, but how that shift will play out in specific committees — like Ways and Means, and the Financial Services Committee, both of which may see this issue — is still a matter of speculation and guesswork.

"I do think there's a lot of interest," Simmons said. "Certainly, there is a lot of interest from Congressman Barney Frank in the mission of these institutions and why they have their tax exemptions."

Frank, D-Mass., is the incoming chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., meanwhile, is the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Simpson doesn't share Simmons' assessment.

"On the broad scale, I don't think we'll see much of anything accomplished for the next couple of years," he said. "On this issue in particular, I think that Frank and Rangel have fairly strong stated opinions about credit unions. But will Harris (Simmons) quit? I doubt it."