CU Members Mortgage, the Fort Worth, Texas mortgage services provider was honored here recently by Fannie Mae during the Prime Alliance Symposium, earning the CUSO of the Year Award.
Given for excellence in mortgage lending, and in particular for making homeownership affordable to CU members, Fannie Mae VP of Marketing John Sayre highlighted CU Members' accomplishments, including the development of a new loan program for credit-challenged members using Fannie Mae's Expanded Approval(R) underwriting guidelines. The CUSO also created partnerships with real estate developers that bought affordable properties then renovated them so members could purchase homes through special loan programs. Part of this initiative involves credit counseling provided by CU Members Mortgage.
CU Members Mortgage originated $13 million per month in loans to help credit-challenged and low-income members.
Despite a decline in mortgage refinances, CU Members Mortgage posted a 22% increase in mortgage production during 2005.
"It's never been more important for credit unions to demonstrate that they serve the underserved, and mortgage lending is a wonderful way to prove it," said Linda Clampitt, SVP of CU Members Mortgage. "This award is a wonderful, well-earned recognition of what credit unions have been doing through CU Members Mortgage, and we thank our many credit union partners for the opportunity to assist them in helping the underserved through homeownership initiatives."
CU Members Mortgage, one of the largest servicers of mortgage loans in the nation, uses advanced technology provided by Prime Alliance Solutions, including its online application that delivers a firm decision in minutes.
This marks the second year in a row the CUSO has been recognized as the Prime Alliance Multi-Site Lender of the Year. It also won the 2005 Fannie Mae CUSO of the Year Award.
Prime Alliance (www.primealliancesolutions.com) and Fannie Mae extended their agreement through 2011, citing the CUSO's dedication to streamlining the mortgage process for CU members through Internet-based technology.
"Fannie Mae's encouragement and support since we began our journey in 2000 has been essential to the success of our credit unions and the satisfaction of their members," said Joe Brancucci, president of Prime Alliance.
"We believe so strongly in the value of our strategic relationship with Prime Alliance and its prospects for the future that we weren't willing to wait until our initial five-year strategic relationship expired in 2006," said Fannie Mae's Jeffery Hayward, "By extending our strategic relationship until 2011, we can ensure that credit unions continue to play an indispensable role in making the American Dream a reality for current and prospective credit union membership."
Prime Alliance 60-member CUs posted results for the first half of 2006 of 55,813 mortgage loan applications for approximately $9.0 billion of business, said Brancucci.
"Performance of this magnitude makes this creative, innovative group of lenders the single largest credit union mortgage loan originator in the country," he said. Thirty of those 60 members are in the top 100 credit union mortgage lenders in the country.
