Letters to Congress

Letter to Representatives Hastert, DeLay, Blunt, Sensenbrenner, Cantor, Pelosi, Hoyer, Menendez, and Spratt regarding bankruptcy abuse reform legislation

March 18, 2003

The Honorable F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman
U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Sensenbrenner:

On behalf of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and 83 million credit union members nationwide, I am pleased that the House of Representatives has taken swift action to bring the bankruptcy abuse reform legislation to the floor this week. As you know, credit unions have been strong supporters of this very important legislation for many years, and I strongly urge you to help pass H.R. 975 with an overwhelming bi-partisan margin, as it has in each of the last three Congresses. Bankruptcy abuse reform remains one of the highest legislative priorities for credit unions.

The need for this legislation is greater than ever. The number of bankruptcy filings in the United States continues to increase, and reached record growth again in 2002. Additionally, the number of bankruptcies of credit union members continues to climb. Our data indicate that there were approximately 256,000 credit union member-borrowers who filed in 2002. This shows the urgent need to reform our bankruptcy system. Credit union chargeoffs related to bankruptcy last year were approximately $775 million. Since 1998, total chargeoffs related to bankruptcy in credit unions are over an astounding $3 billion!

The results taken from CUNA's annual national voter survey continue to disclose that even with the recent bad economic news and major corporate bankruptcies, opinions are still strong that the current system is being abused and needs to be corrected.

Thank you for your consideration of this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Daniel A. Mica
President & CEO

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