Regarding the editorial “Credit unions–and politics–win” on Aug. 5: Congress’ swift, bipartisan reaction to the February Supreme Court decision, which threatened to expel more than 2.5 million credit union members in Illinois and 74 million in the U.S. overall, was not motivated by election-year politics but by what best serves the interests of the American consumer.
It is absurd to assert that credit unions’ tax-exempt status and protected scope of membership hurt bank profitability. Banks are enjoying record profits and continue to hold more than 94 percent of all combined assets in the market. Nonetheless, banks will continue to play the “uneven playing field” card in an attempt to divert attention from the real issue–that the existence of credit unions forces banks to keep rates and fees at a competitive level.
In the long-run, real choice of financial service providers and open competition make consumers the real winners in this legislation.
