U.S. House advances credit union modernization in bipartisan housing bill

Posted by Ryan Fitzgerald on February 10, 2026

Today, the U.S. House passed a major bipartisan housing bill which included a key provision in GoWest’s Federal Credit Union Act (FCUA) modernization agenda. The Housing for the 21st Century Act (H.R. 6644) includes a provision to modernize federal credit union board meeting requirements that will update outdated governance rules.

The FCUA has not been updated for nearly 30 years and in that time, financial services have changed dramatically, from paper checks and manual ledgers to mobile banking and crypto wallets. Updating board meeting requirements is the first of multiple changes that will bring the FCUA up to date and remove costly and ineffective federal regulations.

The House-passed H.R. 6644 would also update statutory loan limits for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance for multifamily projects, reform the HOME Program, make improvements to the Rural Housing Service, make innovations to manufactured housing, and examine expanding access to FHA small-dollar mortgages. Additional amendments that will benefit credit unions include:

• Provide well-managed, well-capitalized credit unions with combined safety-and-soundness and consumer compliance examinations, as well as allowing limited-scope, off-site examinations in alternate years.
• Codify the Treasury’s mentorship program pairing small and rural financial institutions with larger ones.
• Promote the formation of de novo credit unions and other community banks by streamlining the federal application process.

The Senate previously advanced the Renewing Opportunity in the American Dream (ROAD) to Housing Act which would also help increase housing supply and affordability while allowing improved mortgage rules for credit unions. The Senate version of the legislation includes several provisions that will benefit credit unions, including:

• Creating Incentives for Small Dollar Loan Originators, which would allow the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to revise mortgage originator compensation rules so that loan officers are not penalized for originating small dollar mortgages, helping credit unions fairly compensate staff for serving members with modest home
  financing needs.
• Permit the CFPB to adjust the Qualified Mortgage points-and-fees cap for loans under $100,000, making it more economically viable for credit unions to offer small dollar mortgages.
• Modernizing the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) appraisal requirements, allowing greater use of credentialed trainees, and expand appraiser workforce development through grants in order to reduce appraisal delays and costs in underserved markets.

Negotiators will need to align both the House and Senate versions of these bills to reach a final agreement for passage and signing. The GoWest Advocacy Team is actively working to ensure all aspects of the two bills that benefit credit unions will remain in the negotiated package, while also playing defense against any harmful inclusions.

Posted in Advocacy on the Move, Federal Advocacy.