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In an op-ed piece that ran in the Bangor Daily News last week, Todd Mason, President of the Maine Credit Union League, explained the benefits that the recently passed, S. 2155, will provide to credit unions and members. “The reality is that this legislation helps Main Street far more than it helps Wall Street. Credit unions are Main Street. We are community-based, local not-for-profit financial cooperatives. We reinvest our earnings back in our members. In fact, there are nearly 700,000 credit union members in Maine and our credit unions work every day to improve their financial lives,” Mason wrote.
Mason also highlighted the support of Senators Collins and King, an early co-sponsor of the bill, and Congressman Poliquin in his piece and noted the importance of doing that. “Their support is, in no small part, due to strong communications and advocacy from your League and our credit unions. We met with each of them several times and told our stories of the impact that regulatory burden was having on the ability of credit unions to serve members. It was important to note their support and to publicly express our appreciation to them for that support. The op-ed piece provided a perfect forum to do that.”
Mason also highlighted some of the specific benefits that S. 2155 will provide and “improve our ability to do even more for our members and communities. For example, elder financial abuse is a real issue in Maine. Front-line credit union staff are often in the best position to identify it. However, they have been at risk being Good Samaritans in helping stop it. With the passage of S. 2155, credit union tellers will be offered some protections when they report suspected elder financial abuse and help keep our seniors safe.”
In addition to helping keep our seniors safe, S. 2155 will improve credit union’s ability to provide access to real estate loans and support the small, local businesses that fuel Maine, while putting focus extra on protecting Mainers against cyber threats.
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