The Coalition was formed in February 2004 when the right of credit unions to change their charter to a mutual savings bank was subjected to new and unwarranted restrictions by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), which regulates the industry. At its board meeting of February 19, 2004, NCUA finalized a set of onerous new rules governing charter conversion applications. This action directly contradicted a congressional mandate to facilitate statutorily authorized conversions, which was included as part of the 1998 Credit Union Membership Access Act (Pub. Law 105-21). The NCUA never set forth a plausible explanation of why, after more than five years of problem-free administration, it was necessary to erect new barriers to conversions by changing the rules under which the 1998 legislation had been implemented.

This NCUA action, and others since, are imposing draconian new regulations on the charter conversion process. This is in direct contravention of Congress' intentions that rules governing charter change by credit unions should be "no more or less restrictive than those rules that apply to charter conversions by other financial institutions." The Coalition, through its advocacy efforts, is determined to preserve this legal right for credit unions in the face of orchestrated interference by opponents of conversion throughout the credit union movement.

"If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law." - Winston Churchill