June 2010

We’re well along in the industry conversation regarding how pending financial reform legislation will impact credit union member delivery and fee income. Three major topics are being carefully analyzed at the “C” level of credit unions. The first is the much-discussed opt-in regulation. The second is the Durbin financial reform bill that requires “fair and reasonable” debit fees to merchants. While, as written, this only will apply to financial institutions over $10 billion, few industry experts doubt there will be some effect on those credit unions below $10 billion in any two-tiered structure. The third centers on early efforts to limit total debit overdraft fees to six per account per year, which could have a major impact on the fee income at credit unions.

There has been a great deal of analysis regarding the likely impact of these rules on members, fe…