Op-ed: Credit union favoritism harms troops

A federal law allowing tax-exempt credit unions to operate rent-free is shrinking the availability of banking options to service members, ICBA community banker and military veteran James Smith wrote.

In a Military Times op-ed, the president and chief operating officer of FMS Bank in Greeley, Colo., wrote that Congress should pass an ICBA-advocated provision in pending legislation to restore rent parity between banks and credit unions.

ICBA recently called on lawmakers to include the provision in the final version of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.