Secondary Mortgage Market ProjectUnveiled For CDCUs

NE WYORK - (02/01/06) -- The National Federation of CDCUs haslaunched its secondary market program for mortgages made bycommunity development credit unions with an initial purchase of$275,000 in mortgage loans originated by Self Help CU. The projectis still in the pilot stages, but plans call for a steady increasein both the number and kind of loans to be purchased, according toCliff Rosenthal, director of the Federation. The Federation plansto acquire a portfolio of as much as $10 million in CDCU-mademortgages--which are generally smaller than those made bymainstream credit unions--then hold them for as much as a year,before selling them off to interested institutions. The first phaseof the project will include buying mortgages from CDCUs, but anadditional phase would include purchases from Federation'smainstream credit union partners. "Our focus is very much creditunion-specific," Rosenthal told The Credit Union Journal. TheFederation has named Terri Fowlkes, former head of residentiallending for Carver Federal Savings Bank, the largest minority ownedthrift in the U.S., to head the secondary marketproject.