NAFCU Journal November December 2021

21 THE NAFCU JOURNAL November–December 2021 The messages were broadcast to all credit unions whether the issue applied to them or not, which required staff to review each one in detail so there would be nothing missed that might apply, he explained. “The website is also not user- friendly when clarification is needed.” The good news is that responses to the RFI prompted a change, said Kossachev. “The messages will now come from a sin- gle address, which means less opportu- nity for an important message to go to a spam filter or be difficult to identify.” NAFCU’s response to the NCUA’s RFI also addressed the need for open and transparent conversations related to rulemaking before and after the comment period as well as a more narrowly-focused use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) exemptions. While FOIA allows exemptions for agencies to protect sensitive information from public disclosure, NCUA relies heavily on exemptions for information requests that don’t seem to fit the intent of the exemption component of FOIA, said Kossachev. “In our response to the RFI, we also asked for clearer guidance on when external stakeholders can meet with regulators to discuss rulemakings, because there is no clear policy on these ex parte communications.” There is also concern about physical safety of credit union staff and members when consumers send an issue letter directly to the NCUA, said Sultemeier. “There have been instances when the letters contained threatening language toward a specific credit union branch or employees, but the credit union was not notified in a timely manner,” he said. “A filter that identifies threatening language, and a protocol that ensures a potential threat is immediately forwarded to the credit union needs to be put into place.” What Can Credit Unions Do? One of the first steps to creating a trans- parent relationship between the NCUA and credit unions is for credit unions to be more proactive with individual exam teams, said Sultemeier. “We can contact the lead examiner or member of the team ahead of time to ask for information,” he said. Ask questions such as “What are you seeing in other institutions” or “What should we be prepared for in the exam,” he recommended. “Building a relation- ship with open conversations before the visit, allows the credit union to be better prepared—saving time for both the orga- nization and the examiner.” “Individual credit unions should review proposed rules and respond during the comment period to make sure that the NCUA or other regulatory agencies know how the proposed rule will affect credit unions and their members,” recom- mended Schlehuber. “While NAFCU