Contact: Rafael Morales, Communications Officer
212-809-1850 ext. 206
rmorales@cdcu.coop

(September 29, 2006 – Arlington, VA)  On Thursday, September 28, 2006, the Federation’s CDCU Mortgage Center Director, Terri J. Fowlkes, was a featured on a panel entitled “Affordable Housing Brings Opportunities to Emerging Markets” at the Second Annual Lending Industry Diversity and Emerging Markets Conference in Arlington, Virginia.

The panel discussed the importance of affordable housing products and programs in serving emerging markets and low-income consumers.  Ms. Fowlkes was joined on that panel by Antonio Riley, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority and Laurie Vignaud, Affordable Housing Manager and Vice President of Community Development at Capital One.

In her presentation, Ms. Fowlkes discussed the role that credit unions, and particularly community development credit unions (CDCUs), play in providing affordable housing opportunities for emerging markets and underserved communities.  In particular, Fowlkes highlighted manufactured home loans, cooperative share loans, and other non-traditional mortgage products, such as alternative documentation and ITIN loans, which many CDCUs already provide to their members. 

“Non-traditional loans are usually not saleable in existing mortgage markets,” explained Fowlkes.  “This is why the Federation has started its Secondary Market for non-traditional mortgage loans.  What we intend to do is to purchase some of these loans from credit unions and CDCUs, season and aggregate them, then resell them back into the system.  The benefit to the credit union is two-fold,” said Fowlkes, “They not only retain existing relationships with their members but they also free up capital to make additional loans, helping their balance sheets and their members.”

The conference, sponsored by Compliance Technologies, Genworth Financial, and Mortgage Bankers Association, sought to combine the notions of minority homeownership and workforce diversity, along with lending performance.  The conference, which had over 200 attendees, included representatives from major financial institutions, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, mortgage bankers, credit unions, mortgage insurance companies, appraisers, state housing finance agencies, mortgage-related trade organizations, and many more.

For additional information about the Federation’s CDCU Mortgage Center or its Secondary Market, please contact Terri Fowlkes at tjfowlkes@cdcu.coop or at (212) 809-1850, ext, 203.