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Vice Chairman Hood Discusses Predatory Lending, Protecting Hispanic Community at National Policy Meeting

December 5, 2006, Alexandria, VA – National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) Vice Chairman Rodney E. Hood addressed the National Policy Meeting of the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute (HAPI) in Washington, D.C. The policy meeting, titled, “Promoting the 21st Century Hispanic Agenda”, focused upon critical regulatory and public policy impacting Hispanic communities. Vice Chairman Hood was joined by officials from the private and public sector, including: Anna Escobedo Cabral, U.S. Treasurer; Barry Jackson, Deputy Assistant to the President, the White House; Barry Wides, Deputy Comptroller for Community Affairs, Office of Comptroller of the Currency; and Robert Mooney, Acting Deputy Director, Supervision & Consumer Protection, FDIC.

Vice Chairman Hood emphasized the threat of predatory lenders in today’s economy and praised credit unions for their positive strides towards combating this crisis. “Most recent data shows that predatory lending outlets have grown faster than other legitimate, mainstream lenders. President Bush said it best when he said that the measure of true compassion is more than good intensions, it is about results. Credit unions are indeed producing results to help people enter the financial mainstream.” Hood also took the time to highlight the differences between “fringe” and “mainstream,” advising people to become familiar with those distinctions.

Stressing the importance of fostering a regulatory environment that protects citizens from predatory lending, Vice Chairman Hood applauded HAPI for taking the initiative to host a meeting that addressed the “economic issues that will empower the Hispanic Community with the resources needed to participate in the financial mainstream.” 

Vice Chairman Hood closed by encouraging the leaders to communicate with their state and federal officials concerning the need to enhance the mainstream financial services system to protect society’s most vulnerable consumers.  

For more information on protection from predatory lending, please access the brochure available on the NCUA website at: http://www.ncua.gov/Publications/brochures/PredatoryLending/PredatoryLendingBrochure.pdf. A Spanish version is available at: http://www.ncua.gov/Publications/brochures/PredatoryLending/preditorylendingbrochurespanish.pdf

The National Credit Union Administration is the independent federal agency that regulates, charters and supervises federal credit unions. NCUA, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, also operates and manages the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), insuring the deposits of over 85 million account holders in all federal credit unions and the majority of state-chartered credit unions.