America’s Credit Unions Amplifies Nationwide Credit Union Message Through Media Tour, Reinforcing Consumer Value and Policy Priorities

Scott Simpson

​America’s Credit Unions touted credit unions’ positive impact on consumers’ daily lives directly to communities nationwide through a coordinated media tour from the National Press Club, with President and CEO Scott Simpson speaking with television and radio outlets across the country. 
 
“Credit unions are member-owned, not-for-profit cooperatives, and so the distinction between a credit union and a bank is a credit union’s shareholder and the customer are the same people. And that reality, that business model drives a completely different decisioning culture,” Simpson said during one of the interviews on Newsradio 600 WMT’s The Doug Wagner Show. “Business culture, at a credit union, provides opportunity. ...Credit unions provide better rates on deposits, lower interest rates on loans, lower fees on products and services, and the result of all of that is it allows credit union members to keep more of their own money. 
 
“When people keep more of their own money...the economy flourishes.” 
 
During the nationwide outreach, Simpson spoke with a broad mix of local, regional, and nationally syndicated media outlets, reaching audiences across the Midwest, South, West, and Northeast. Participating outlets included: 

• Daily Flash (nationally syndicated television) 
• FOX, CBS, NBC, and regional television affiliates in North Dakota, Michigan, and Iowa 
• Radio outlets serving markets such as Chicago, Las Vegas, Harrisburg, Grand Rapids, Port Huron, Lansing, Little Falls (MN), and multiple regional Iowa stations. 

 
The interviews focused on how credit unions deliver real, everyday value for consumers and why policy decisions in Washington matter for families, small businesses, and local communities nationwide. 
 
As not-for-profit, member-owned financial cooperatives, credit unions return value directly to the people they serve. During the tour, America’s Credit Unions emphasized that credit unions deliver more than $37 billion in annual consumer benefits through lower loan rates, higher savings yields, and fewer fees, while continuing to reinvest earnings into fraud prevention, cybersecurity, and member services. 
  
America’s Credit Unions also highlighted the industry’s continued growth and reach, serving more than 145 million members nationwide and expanding access to financial services in rural, military, and underserved communities. 
 
Aligning Policy With Real-World Impact 
Throughout the media tour, America’s Credit Unions reinforced that affordability and security must remain central to any financial policy discussion. 

• Interest Rate Proposals: America’s Credit Unions addressed proposals to impose a 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates, noting that credit unions already operate under conservative rate structures, including existing 18 percent caps in many cases. Additional restrictions risk limiting access to credit for consumers with limited or emerging credit histories and could push borrowers toward less regulated, higher-cost alternatives  
• Payments Competition and Security: America’s Credit Unions also raised concerns about proposals such as the Credit Card Competition Act, emphasizing that similar mandates applied to debit cards failed to deliver promised savings to consumers while increasing costs for community financial institutions. Research shows these policies could weaken payment security, reduce rewards and fraud protections, and primarily benefit the nation’s largest retailers — not everyday families  

 
Simpson stressed that policymakers should carefully evaluate how changes to the payments system and consumer credit markets affect financial security, consumer choice, and access to affordable credit at the community level. 

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