FREDDIE MAC ANNOUNCES FINANCIAL EDUCATION AWARDS

Washington, DC – Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) today announced the winners of its inaugural 2006 Successful Models in Financial Education Awards and its Champions of Financial Literacy Awards during the company's CreditSmart® Symposium: Financial Education for Maximum Results. The four honorees for the Successful Models awards each have a unique approach to meeting the challenge of encouraging financial literacy, but share a common goal: bringing needed financial skills to underserved communities. Additionally, the Champions in Financial Education Awards recognize Members of Congress who make a difference in the financial future of all Americans.

"Today's winners understand that successful financial education must begin early and extends into retirement as personal needs evolve," said Dwight Robinson, senior vice president of Community Relations and Housing Outreach. "These awards give Freddie Mac the opportunity to recognize the achievements these organizations and Congressional members have made in addressing the financial education challenges at each step."

Champions of Financial Literacy Awards

This year the five honorees are Congresswoman Judy Biggert and Congressmen Spencer Bachus, Rubén Hinojosa, Mike Honda and Mel Watts. Their legislative efforts and personal dedication have focused on the importance of financial literacy and education, protecting consumers from abusive and predatory lending practices, and promoting financial empowerment through legislative initiatives.

Successful Models in Financial Education Awards

More than 45 organizations submitted entries in four categories, and the top programs were honored as follows.

Successful Outreach and Marketing Efforts for Financial Education Award: The University of Missouri-Columbia Office of Financial Successes created a Financial Tip of the Week, which is a free weekly e-mail service that reaches over 43,000 consumers with important financial information on topics such as beginning investing, managing debt and dealing with credit problems. The information is designed to be accessible and educational while helping individuals make more informed financial decisions.
Successful Partnerships for Financial Education Award: The Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER) and Mothers' Voices of Georgia collaborated to bring financial and retirement education programs to minority women in rural Georgia and metropolitan Atlanta. WISER collaborated with more than 45 local organizations to offer free financial literacy education services reaching over 2,500 African American low-income women last year.
Successful Approaches to Motivating Consumers for Financial Education Award: Lighthouse Credit Foundation's program, LifeSmarts, prepares teens to teach financial literacy and life skills. The program concentrates on training students to participate in The National Consumers League's LifeSmarts competition, which focuses on five key areas of consumer knowledge, to prepare them to function effectively in today's world.
Successful Tools or Resources Used in Financial Education Initiatives Award: Neighborhood Housing Services of Great Falls, Mont., works cooperatively with process servers from the county sheriffs' office to provide foreclosure prevention information to homeowners in default with their home loans. This low-cost partnership has already reduced foreclosures in Montana.

In addition to the top award winners, each category also featured a finalist and an honorable mention. The full list follows.

Each winner was awarded $1,500 for a successful model within each of the four categories; runner-ups received $500. Applications were accepted from qualified nonprofit organizations and for profit-organizations. However, for-profit organizations winners were required to donate the cash award to a nonprofit organization.

The awards selection was managed by an independent source, who also selected independent judges to review the entries, which were judged based on:

Cost-effectiveness – strategy is modest cost compared to return on investment
Impact – strategy increased or improved prior results
Innovation – strategy demonstrates creativity and uniqueness
Reproducible – strategy can be reproduced and implemented by others
Effectiveness – overall effectiveness in delivering financial education

2006 Successful Models Award Winners and Runners Up

SUCCESSFUL OUTREACH AND MARKETING

WINNER: Financial Tip of the Week – University of Missouri-Columbia Office of Financial Success

RUNNER-UP (tie): Financial Literacy and Tax Assistance Services – El Centro, Inc.

RUNNER-UP (tie): Plan Well, Retire Well Website – University of Illinois Extension

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Mass Outreach to Vietnamese Refugees And Immigrants – Boat People SOS
Women's Investment Education Program – Kansas State University Cooperative Extension

SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION

WINNER: Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement and Mothers Voices, Georgia

RUNNER-UP: Junior Duel in the Desert: Personal Finance Competition for Students – University of Arizona

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Reality Store Partnership – Virginia Cooperative Extension, Prince William Office
Taking Charge of Your Future: A Financial Guide for People With Spina Bifida and Their Families Website - The National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE)
Economic Mobility Centers- The National Council of La Raza
Urban Native American Partnership - Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) of Great Falls

SUCCESSFUL APPROACHES TO MOTIVATING CONSUMERS

WINNER: LifeSmarts Program for Teens – Lighthouse Credit Foundation

RUNNER-UP: Troubled Teens Learn Financial Life Skills– St. Lucie County Cooperative Extension

HONORABLE MENTION:

Making Home Possible – Texas Association of Mortgage Brokers

SUCCESSFUL TOOLS OR RESOURCES FOR FINANCIAL EDUCATION

WINNER: Who's Got the Sheriff – Neighborhood Housing Services of Great Falls

RUNNER-UP: Financial Survival Course for College Students – University of Missouri-Columbia Office of Financial Success

HONORABLE MENTION:

Housing Counseling Program - The Spanish American Committee

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than four million renters in America.

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