First Citizens FCU Pilots CorrespondentMBL Program

FAIRHAVEN, Mass. - (05/15/06) – First Citizens FCU announced ithas completed the first member business loan through its newCorrespondent CU Program. The correspondent MBL program wasdeveloped to give partner credit unions the ability to extendcommercial lending services, including Small BusinessAdministration loans, to their members. Under the program, FirstCitizens’ funds the loans through the correspondent creditunions, which then extend business loans to their members. Loansare serviced by Octant Business Services, which is jointly owned byFirst Citizens and seven other credit unions. The first beneficiaryof the new partnership was Dave’s Lawn Mower Repair, inSwansea, Mass., which used an SBA-secured loan to pay-off amortgage loan, consolidate other debt, and to create a line ofcredit to be used to grow the company.