Consumer Compliance Exam Manual

The Division of Credit Unions (DCU) periodically conducts standalone Consumer Compliance Examinations at credit unions with total assets over $500 million. For credit unions with total assets less than $500 million, compliance examination work is performed during regularly scheduled safety and soundness examinations. DCU’s compliance examination objectives are to help ensure that Washington state chartered credit unions comply with the applicable consumer protection laws, and to assist these credit unions in identifying compliance program weaknesses and by addressing these weaknesses with appropriate corrective actions.

During standalone compliance exams DCU will focus on examining the credit union’s compliance management program to evaluate whether it has allocated sufficient resources (both personnel and system) to ensure the credit union has strong compliance programs going forward. DCU will evaluate the overall effectiveness of the credit union’s compliance program and issue a composite “Compliance” rating using the FFIEC’s Uniform Consumer Compliance Rating System. A credit union’s compliance management program should be adaptable to meet the challenges of complying with the numerous consumer compliance regulations and the increasing number of changes to these regulations.

See DCU Bulletin # B-13-15 titled “Consumer Compliance Examinations” for more information on DCU’s compliance examination program.