CREDIT UNIONS CAN MORE EFFECTIVELY COMPETE FOR MORTGAGE BUSINESS THROUGH RENEWED CUNA, FREDDIE MAC ALLIANCE AGREEMENT

McLean, VA – Credit unions can more effectively compete for mortgage business through superior access to the secondary mortgage market and the latest mortgage technology because of improvements made to the renewed agreement between CUNA and Freddie Mac. The renewed alliance agreement is effective through Sept. 1, 2007.

The improved alliance streamlines products and improves execution on those items that CUNA members need to compete in the full service market. Additionally, Freddie Mac created a special account management team dedicated solely to credit unions to help them become more competitive originators and more effective managers of interest risk.

The alliance will also provide credit unions with access to secondary market execution with as little as a single mortgage loan. Other advantages include implementation and transaction fee discounts for Web-based Mortgagebot with Loan Prospector business-to-consumer Web site and a private label servicing option through CUNA Mutual Mortgage Corp.

"The alliance provides credit unions with much need flexibility," said Wes Millar, CUNA's senior vice president of Strategic Services. "Through Freddie Mac, credit unions will have affordable lending solutions to meet the needs of low- to moderate-income borrowers as well as a variety of products that meet their members' needs in the changing economic climate."

"The alliance renewal with CUNA underscores our long-standing commitment to credit unions and their members," said Iliana Ghanem, vice president for community lending at Freddie Mac. "This offering provides credit unions the competitive tools they need to build and enhance their mortgage business, strengthen their member outreach and ultimately put more of their members into homes."

The Freddie Mac/CUNA agreement also provides participating credit unions with:

Technological advantages – using Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector automated underwriting service and a Mortgagebot with Loan Prospector^® business-to-consumer Web site for online mortgage lending;
Additional mortgage product options – including flexibility for construction to permanent mortgages and others that compliment a wide variety of mortgages available through Freddie Mac's Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide; and
Education – assistance and training on Freddie Mac affordable mortgage lending products, including Freddie Mac's Home Possible^SMmortgage suite, and other low down payment mortgages, that are designed to help low- and moderate-income borrowers.

For more information on the CUNA/Freddie Mac alliance, call Freddie Mac's CUNA Hotline at 866-220-2074 or visit the Freddie Mac/CUNA Alliance link at freddiemac.com. CUNA members can also contact Tom Lybeck, product manager for CUNA's Strategic Services, at (800) 356-9655, ext. 4109, or visit www.cuna.org and select the "Freddie Mac/CUNA Alliance" link located under the "CUNA Initiatives" banner.

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) serves more than 90 percent of America's 9,000 credit unions, which are owned by nearly 87 million consumer members. Credit unions are not for profit cooperatives providing affordable financial services to people from all walks of life. CUNA Strategic Services, Inc., owned jointly by CUNA and the state leagues, provides credit unions with access to high quality products, services and technologies delivered with a competitive advantage made possible through volume pricing and strategic program development. For more information visit www.strategicservices.cuna.org.

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 nearly four million renters in America.

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