The final version of the Fed’s interchange fee cap proposal will not be released on April 21 as planned, but the Fed is still aiming for the rules to come into effect on July 21, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a Tuesday letter to members of Congress.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) continues to promote his recently introduced member business lending legislation, this time turning to his own blog to answer Facebook users’ questions about lifting the MBL cap for credit unions.

Ohio’s recently unveiled budget package has reduced funding for the Department of Commerce and the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions, which supervises state-chartered credit unions, according to the Ohio Credit Union League.

Although the U.S. economy is improving, credit unions must confront the reality that their members’ debt is deep, and will keep credit union lending spotty, a CUNA economist, told an event sponsored by the New Jersey Credit Union League and affiliated partners.

The Senate Banking Committee “needs to do its homework” and should “thoroughly examine federal housing policy” and identify problems within the current system “before Congress can consider legislation,” Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) has said.

The national average interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased to 4.97% in February, a 12 basis point increase over the previous month’s total, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) reported on Tuesday.

CUNA Chief Economist Bill Hampel will be among those discussing small business lending issues in a live radio broadcast Saturday afternoon from “The Small Business Authority Studio” at 77WABC Radio in New York.

Credit union commitment to long-term mortgage lending is unquestioned, and a Federal Housing Finance Administration does not need to impose ongoing mortgage lending monitoring requirements on credit unions who use the Federal Home Loan Bank System, CUNA said in a recent comment letter.

In its continuing efforts to pursue relief for credit unions, CUNA Monday encouraged the U.S. Treasury Department to support a delay in the debit fee interchange statute’s implementation.

The National Credit Union Administration, as liquidating agent of the former Ensign FCU, Henderson, Nev., has sued developers and individuals who entered into real estate construction loans with the credit union in 2007, two years before the credit union was shuttered due to declining financial condition.