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Will Proposed Merger Rules Survive?

MANAGEMENT
FEBRUARY 7, 2018 | VOL. 29 | NO. 4 | CUTIMES.COM

Shadow
Hovers
Over
HELOCs

LENDINGFOCUSREPORT:

Y17

he NCUA approved

200 mergers last year, the exact number of consolidations green lighted by the federal agency in

2016. While the number of merg-
ers is not expected to change
much in 2018, what may change
this year are pending new merg-
er rules proposed by the NCUA
board last year, which would
require credit unions to make
controversial disclosures involv-
ing executive compensation and
take what many credit union ex-
ecutives have called additional
cumbersome steps to complete
mergers.

Although the NCUA has report-
edly stepped up its merger review
process by asking more questions
and requiring more documenta-
tion, particularly when it comes
to executive pay, it’s questionable
whether the proposed merger
rules will ever be adopted because
the makeup of the NCUA board is
uncertain.

NCUA Spokesperson John Fairbanks said the proposed merger rules are still under review and the agency will not comment on pending rules.

“We received 89 comments,
and staff is still going over the rule
in light of those [comments],” Fair-
banks said. “I do not yet have an
indication of when the rule will be
brought back to our board.”
enders and economists
said the new tax law
shouldn’t affect most
consumers’ decisions
about buying a home or borrowing
against their equity in one, even
though the tax benefits will disap-
pear for many.

But the gulf between what ought to be and what is in consumers’ minds has spawned entire categories of professions, and many lend-ers are not sure how consumers will react when the implications of the new law sink in.

The mortgage interest deduction has been part of the middle class ethos, providing a rite of passage from the wild, rootless years of the standard deduction to the settled, responsible “grownupedness” of itemized deductions. And with that mortgage came local property taxes, conferring even more status.

Even under the old law — the one being used this spring for 2017 taxes — most people would not have enough deductions to make itemizing worth the hassle without mortgage interest.

A year from now, the amount of mortgage interest they pay will be moot for vast swaths of the public. The same goes for deductions for state and local taxes.

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