In a joint letter sent to the House Financial Services Committee, the credit union system shares how communities would benefit from the legislation.

The committee is marking up H.R. 7003, the Expanding Financial Access to Underserved Communities Act Tuesday.

The letter states that the bill, “will enable credit unions to provide financial services to more communities in need, often areas banks have abandoned or shown little interest in serving.”

The legislation would:

• Allow all federal credit unions to add underserved areas to their field of membership
• Exempt business loans made by credit unions in underserved areas from the credit union member business lending cap.
• Expand the definition of an underserved area to include New Markets Tax Credit areas and any area that is more than ten miles from the nearest financial institution branch.