The Defense Credit Union Council (DCUC) has submitted a letter to House Small Business Committee Chairman Roger Williams and Ranking Member Nydia Velázquez ahead of the hearing, “From Service to Startup: Empowering Veteran Entrepreneurs.”
DCUC applauds the Committee’s leadership in highlighting the urgent need to expand access to capital for America’s military and veteran entrepreneurs.
For more than 60 years, DCUC has represented credit unions serving servicemembers’, veterans’, and their families’ financial needs, and ensuring their financial readiness.
DCUC urged the Committee to recognize the need to modernize the outdated Member Business Lending (MBL) cap, which limits federally chartered credit unions to business loans totaling no more than 12.25% of their assets. Unlike banks, credit unions face this statutory cap even when they are well-capitalized and ready to lend. As a result, many veteran entrepreneurs are turned away, not because of credit risk, but because of the arbitrary ceiling.
DCUC strongly supports the bipartisan Veterans Member Business Loan Act (VMBLA), introduced as H.R. 507 and S. 110, which would exempt loans to veteran-owned small businesses from the MBL cap. This common-sense reform would expand veteran access to affordable credit at no cost to taxpayers, enabling community-based credit unions to say “yes” more often to veteran borrowers.
“Veteran-owned businesses play a critical role in the U.S. economy, generating nearly $1 trillion in annual revenue and employing about 5 million Americans,” says Jason Stverak, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer. “Yet they face disproportionately high credit denial rates and persistent
financing shortfalls. Removing the MBL cap for veteran business loans would help bridge this gap and spur new economic opportunities nationwide.”
DCUC emphasized its long-standing commitment to improving financial access for veterans and reaffirmed that its member credit unions stand ready to responsibly increase lending as soon as Congress acts.
“Veteran entrepreneurs deserve full access to capital, and credit unions are uniquely positioned to provide it,” DCUC wrote.
“We encourage the House Small Business Committee to advance the Veterans Member Business Loan Act as a meaningful step toward empowering those who have served our nation to build and grow successful businesses,” says Stverak.
Learn more about DCUC’s advocacy on the Veterans Member Business Lending here.