Organization and Operations of Federal Credit Unions

The Credit Union Membership Access Act modified NCUA's chartering and field of membership authority. Accordingly, NCUA is finalizing a number of amendments to its policies to update them consistent with the recent legislation. Additionally, the final rule revises and updates NCUA's chartering and field of membership policy to reflect the advances and changes in chartering requirements since the promulgation of IRPS 94-1. The majority of the revisions reflect NCUA's policy on the types of federal credit union charters and the criteria necessary to amend a credit union's field of membership. The legislation authorizes three types of credit union charters. These charter types include a single occupational or associational common bond, a multiple common bond, or a local community, neighborhood, or rural district serving a well defined area. Along with a comprehensive update of chartering policy, the format of the chartering manual has been changed to make it more user- friendly. The final rule further clarifies overlap issues, mergers, low-income policies regarding low income charters and service of underserved areas, the definition of immediate family member or household, and the ``once a member, always a member'' policy.