After reading it, however, I am left with an uneasiness that a CFPB governed by a single director, subject to minimal oversight, could lapse into old patterns of overreach. In other words, any reforms put in place by the current management could be transitory and easily erased in the future unless Congress enacts durable reforms.

The Plan sets the course for 2026-30. It declares an intent to address “tangible consumer harms,” defined as concrete damage that a court would recognize, including financial losses that a victim of fraud can prove by producing evidence. This alone represents an improvement in past CFPB practices. For example, the Bureau issued plans in 2022-23 aimed at somehow preventing “presumed injuries” or “dignitary harms,” neither of which could ever be defined in law. Those days are over.

Another positive is a declaration that CFPB will combat overregulation while honestly assessing the costs and benefits of regulation. Again, a very laudable goal—credit unions will want to see evidence that it is being achieved.

Throughout the document is a commitment for CFPB to stay within its statutory mandate. In plain English that means CFPB will follow the law. In the past CFPB had often made unilateral policy moves based on nothing but their internal views about the merits of a financial industry practice instead of an actual law on the books. The arbitrary $8 cap on credit card late fees imposed on credit unions and other financial institutions in 2023 is an example of CFPB making it up as they go along rather than adhering to what Congress wrote into law.

The CFPB was designed to be an extra-independent agency, absolved of congressional budgetary oversight. This has fostered a serious lack of accountability. The Bureau’s creators may have intended to insulate it from the influence of financial firms on Congress but failed to recognize unchecked influence in the other direction by those who advocate frankly anti-business and anti-market policies.

If I were given the pen on the Strategic Plan, I would have included two recommendations that CFPB should make to Congress:

• Put CFPB under the congressional appropriations process. This would inject a significant degree of accountability that comes from an ideologically diverse legislature. No matter which party is in the majority, the power of the purse should be applied to CFPB’s work.
  
• Reform the governance of CFPB by eliminating the sole director structure and replacing it with a multi-member, bi-partisan commission. Would this prevent quick, immediate (some would say hasty) actions undertaken by CFPB? You bet, and that’s a good thing. Both CFPB and the consumer finance marketplace it oversees would benefit from having a more deliberative and temperate blending of opinions guiding its future policymaking.
  

Implementing the good ideas contained in the Strategic Plan is a start. But there’s work to be done on Capitol Hill—a reformed and responsive CFPB would benefit American consumers, and credit unions would find a lot to like about that.

Throughout our 63-year history, the Defense Credit Union Council continues to make a significant difference for the credit union industry. It is our strong mission identification, a solid foundation of credibility, and several well-connected member institutions that have propelled DCUC into an expanded role and positioned us to take industry leadership on important matters. This has led to our recent growth from directly representing 23 million credit union members to over 45 million today. It has been a remarkable journey.

Taking on a leading industry role was born out of necessity. Yet, we quickly realized DCUC’s organizational structure allows us to be much more agile and responsive to industry threats. As a result, DCUC has become the industry’s leading voice on Congressional matters, and when engaging with policy makers throughout the Executive Branch. It is not bragging when you have the receipts. Plus, DCUC’s credibility, voice, and mission identification have always been our strength.

Clearly, the industry needs DCUC. …and just so we’re clear, DCUC needs our industry partners as well.

Collaboration has always been the hallmark in cooperative organizations. This collaboration was especially important in last year’s battle to preserve the industry’s taxexemption along with many other industry challenges. DCUC has never shied away from taking an immediate stand against banker attacks and industry-threatening legislation. We have also mobilizied credit union proponents on Capitol Hill to support important legislation that bolsters our industry. We are proud to do our part and more.

In each instance, DCUC organized and led joint trade association and league meetings, prepared the discussion materials, and worked to coordinate efforts. These meetings were highlighted in the trade press to demonstrate our collective commitment to each of our member institutions. No other trade association or league has volunteered to lead these industry-wide efforts, which places our collaborative efforts in a class above the rest.

The question is where do we go from here?

Today, DCUC is at a crossroads in terms of further expansion and continuing our role as the leading national trade association versus returning to a more niche organization focused solely on active-duty military and the occasional veteran-related issues. To be honest, I don’t see DCUC ever going backwards.

However, there are several values we will adhere to as we consider our future:

1. DCUC will keep its focus on serving our military and veteran communities. Many of our credit union members have asked us never to abandon our roots. I could not agree more. Thus, we have no plans on doing so.
   
2. DCUC is built on serving those who serve. Thus, we can also serve other credit unions whose members serve our country and communities. There are millions of veterans serving as firefighters, law enforcement officers, teachers, engineers, government workers, labor union members, and many others. This is a natural outgrowth of our mission.
   
3. DCUC will continue to collaborate and partner with leagues, fellow trade associations, and system providers. Collaboration has many benefits and having more than one voice allows the industry to broaden its appeal to a greater range of decisionmakers.
4. No trade association can be truly successful in being “all things to all people.” Attempting to do this will always upset varying percentages of the membership. Yet, I believe we can agree to a certain set of core principles and apolitical positions that will help shape and clarify any confusion in our advocacy priorities. This is where collaboration is important. There are other trades and organizations that have a different point of view or political bias. We don’t fault any of these organizations for addressing their member’s needs and will always try to find common ground—just as we have all along.
5. The main thing is to keep our focus on improving our industry and pushing back against industry detractors. Everything else is noise.
   

​That said, the DCUC Board has convened an important mid-year planning update at the end of the month. We have lots to discuss including the results from our brand survey which were very positive). Stay tuned for more updates and don’t forget to register for our Annual Conference (August 3–6). Many of the strategic outcomes and plans will be highlighted during the conference and Annual Business Meeting.

Thanks again for all your support—and let’s continue winning for our industry!

​There are some truths in Washington that become easier to see the farther one gets from Washington. On a military installation, in a town built around service, or in the fragile days when a family is bracing for deployment, transfer, or transition, finance stops being abstract. It becomes immediate and human. It is rent and readiness, peace of mind and mission focus, stability at home and strength abroad. That is why defense must remain central to DCUC’s advocacy for the entire credit union industry. It is where the case for credit unions becomes clearest, most urgent, and most believable. DCUC’s own mission is rooted in serving military and veteran communities, and every credit union in the country serves active-duty military, veterans, or their families. That insight is more than a talking point. It is the map. 

DCUC was born from that reality. Its history explains that defense credit unions, serving a uniquely mobile membership, needed a unified voice to represent them with the  Department of War and to coordinate solutions to problems traditional institutions did not fully understand. In 1965, that advocacy helped produce DoW Directive 1000.9, which formally recognized defense credit unions as important resources on military installations, and then Directive 1344.7, which clarified their role and privileges on base. Those were not ornamental victories. They established a durable operating compact between military communities and cooperative finance. Long before “financial inclusion” became a fashionable phrase in policy circles, DCUC was proving that safe, mission-driven financial services were part of military welfare and morale.

That same moral logic was carried forward when new threats emerged. DCUC’s history shows support of tougher rules on commercial solicitation on military installations, helped ensure on-base financial institutions became preferred providers of financial education, backed the Military Personnel Services Protection Act, and worked to curb predatory payday lending aimed at servicemembers and their dependents. Those efforts helped culminate in the 2007 National Defense Authorization Act’s lending protections. The lesson still matters. Financial readiness is not decorative. Official military family-readiness materials say financial fitness is part of being mission-ready, and DCUC’s decades of advocacy understood that long before many policymakers did. Protecting military families from bad financial actors is not merely good consumer policy. It is a readiness policy, a resilience policy, and, at its best, a national-strength policy.

The present record is equally revealing. DCUC’s current advocacy agenda does not separate military priorities from broader industry priorities; it places them in the same frame. The organization’s official priorities include the FY2027 NDAA, the Veterans Member Business Loan Act, financial-literacy reforms, credit union tax status, and governance modernization. That matters because it shows what DCUC has learned over time: when you lead with defense, you do not narrow your field of vision. You widen it. You demonstrate, in the hardest-use environment imaginable, why cooperative finance deserves a strong place in the national policy conversation. That defense-centered posture also earns bipartisan respect. When French Hill introduced the Military Financial Services Protection Act, he said the bill would help the Pentagon understand “the intersection of financial services and defense.” 

When  Maxine Waters  introduced legislation to support new community banks and credit unions, she described such institutions as a “backbone and lifeline” for underserved communities. Those are different lawmakers, with different politics, speaking to a common truth: locally rooted financial institutions matter. DCUC’s advocacy succeeds when it translates the defense experience into that broader national language—showing that what helps a military family on base often also helps a rural borrower, a first-time homebuyer, a small business owner, or a community abandoned by larger institutions.

The breadth of that access is visible in the committees where DCUC shows up and the coalitions it joins. It writes on defense matters to the House Armed Services Committee. It weighs in on regulatory and legislative questions before the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate banking committee. It presses tax arguments to congressional leadership and veteran entrepreneurship arguments to small-business lawmakers. And when Congress considers broad credit union reforms, bipartisan support follows. The Credit Union Board Modernization Act, led in the House by Juan Vargas and Bill Huizenga, passed by voice vote; the Senate companion was reintroduced by Bill Hagerty and Lisa Blunt Rochester. That is not what marginal advocacy looks like. That is what trusted advocacy looks like.

The same pattern is visible in DCUC’s work with The American Legion on the Veterans Member Business Loan Act. In 2026, the two organizations jointly urged congressional leaders to swiftly advance the bill, calling it a common-sense, zero-cost reform that would remove unnecessary barriers to veteran entrepreneurship. The legislation itself was introduced on a bipartisan, bicameral basis by Mazie Hirono and Dan Sullivan in the Senate, and by Brian Fitzpatrick and Vicente Gonzalez in the House. That moment matters for more than one bill. It shows DCUC leading from a defense-rooted issue into a wider industry argument—about credit access, small business growth, and what it means to honor service in civilian life.

So what should come next? Three things. First, Congress should create a formal advisory structure inside the Department of War for military financial services and require recurring reporting to lawmakers, so that oversight no longer depends on fragmented, ad hoc processes. Second, the Pentagon should consistently enforce fair on-installation access and treat qualified credit unions as core partners in financial readiness and education. Third, Congress should advance veteran-capital reforms such as the Veterans Member Business Loan Act while protecting the legal and regulatory foundation that allows mission-driven credit unions to serve military and civilian communities alike. Those recommendations are practical, bipartisan, and fully consistent with DCUC’s own recent testimony and letters.

There is also a quieter reason defense must remain a t t he center. It keeps us honest. It reminds the credit union movement that our best argument has never been scale, cleverness, or political fashion. Our best argument is service. And service, over time, becomes credibility. DCUC’s history book calls its first fifty years a foundation for the future; its more recent engagement with senior DoW leadership shows how that future is still being built. If we continue to lead with defense—not as a narrow constituency, but as the place where the cooperative mission is tested most rigorously—then the years ahead can be more than defensive. They c an b e g enerative. Th ey ca n op en do ors, sh ape po licy, an d help ensure that the institutions serving those who wear the uniform remain strong enough to serve the whole country as well. That is a hopeful future, and it is within reach.

DCUC called for the Committee’s shared support on strengthening fraud prevention and recovery tools, encouraging responsible adoption of emerging technologies, and ensuring right-sized regulation for credit unions serving communities nationwide. 
 
Among these measures, DCUC proposed strengthening protections against AI-enabled fraud, improving elder fraud investigations and scam recovery efforts, modernizing supervisory technology, and expanding community financial institutions’ access to responsible AI innovation tools. 
 
“Of all the measures scheduled for markup, this legislation most directly reflects the practical needs we have highlighted in recent hearings and letters: better fraud-detection tools, community-scaled access to emerging technologies, safe-harbor concepts for responsible fraud prevention, shared or consortium approaches for smaller institutions, and stronger public-private information sharing,” said Jason Stverak, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer. 
 
DCUC also urged lawmakers to ensure that future regulatory frameworks preserve strong consumer protections while recognizing the operational realities facing smaller and mission-driven financial institutions. 
 
“These proposals recognize that innovation and consumer protection are not mutually exclusive,” says DCUC President/CEO Anthony Hernandez, Ret. U.S. Air Force Colonel. “Defense credit unions need the ability to responsibly adopt emerging technologies while continuing to safeguard servicemembers, veterans, and military families from increasingly sophisticated fraud threats.” 
 
DCUC further encouraged Congress and regulators to incorporate military- and veteran-specific fraud trends into future studies, reporting requirements, and interagency coordination efforts. ​

In this role, Sneed will support DCUC’s executive leadership, Board of Directors, and staff by providing high-level administrative, operational, and facility management support. She will oversee daily headquarters operations, manage executive calendars, and coordinate special projects to help ensure organizational efficiency and continuity. 
 
Sneed brings a strong background in office management and executive assistance, with experience supporting both operations and workplace administration. 
 
Anthony Hernandez, DCUC President/CEO, Ret. USAF Colonel welcomed Sneed, stating, “We’re thrilled to have TaVon on the DCUC team! Her professionalism, operational expertise, and ability to keep complex priorities moving efficiently are already proving valuable to DCUC’s mission success.” ​

In its statement, DCUC encouraged lawmakers to continue recognizing financial readiness as a core component of military readiness and quality of life for servicemembers and their families. DCUC called for greater oversight and transparency regarding access to on-base financial services, overseas military banking operations, and barriers preventing qualified credit unions from participating in financial education and counseling programs on military installations. 
 
“DCUC respectfully urges the Subcommittee to continue treating military financial services as a defense-readiness and quality-of-life issue, not as a peripheral banking matter,” wrote Jason Stverak, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer. 
 
DCUC also highlighted several bipartisan policy priorities supporting military and veteran communities, including enhanced access to capital for veteran entrepreneurs, permanent Central Liquidity Facility (CLF) enhancements, housing and mortgage flexibility, and permanent pay protections for Department of War and Coast Guard personnel during government shutdowns. 
 
“Financial readiness is mission readiness, and that starts with ensuring servicemembers and their families have access to reliable, community-focused financial institutions they can trust,” said Anthony Hernandez, DCUC President/CEO, Ret. USAF Colonel. “Defense credit unions understand the unique challenges military families face and remain committed to providing the support and stability they need at every stage of service.” ​

​“This is a significant and encouraging development for financial institutions, consumers, and the stability of the nation’s payments system,” said Jason Stverak, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer. “The OCC’s recent actions recognize the serious legal, operational, and economic concerns created by the Illinois law and reinforce the importance of maintaining a consistent national framework for electronic payments.”

DCUC has been actively engaged on the issue since 2024, including formally urging the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) to oppose the Illinois law and support federal preemption protections for credit unions. Most recently, DCUC sent a detailed letter to NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman requesting clarity on the agency’s authority to provide similar regulatory guidance and protections for federal credit unions following the OCC’s interim final rule and order.

“Credit unions should not face uncertainty or unequal treatment simply because their regulator has not yet acted,” Stverak added. “DCUC believes the NCUA has existing authority under the Federal Credit Union Act and current regulations to evaluate this issue and provide meaningful guidance for federally chartered credit unions.”

DCUC has consistently warned that the Illinois law could disrupt the payments system and negatively impact fraud prevention, cybersecurity investments, transaction processing, and the affordable financial services relied upon by military families, veterans, and consumers nationwide.

“Today’s decision is an important step forward, but significant questions remain for credit unions,” Stverak says. “DCUC will continue advocating for regulatory clarity, federal consistency, and ultimately full repeal of the Illinois IFPA to help protect consumers and preserve a safe, secure, and reliable payments system.”