Lending

RYE, N.Y. – USAlliance FCU has signed with Credit Union Student Choice to provide the CUSO’s white label private student loan program to its members.

The question of whether the current mortgage market is "risky" or "ripe" depends on how a financial institution delivers the loans, according to Kim Westover VP of mortgage lending for $686.6-million One Nevada Credit Union.

The real estate lending process at $3.6-billion Patelco Credit Union has been "transformed completely" in the last 18 months, according to Vince Salinas, VP-home loans.

MONROE, Mich. -- Monroe County Community CU is partnering with Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County on a project to build new homes in a foreclosed subdivision, the local Habitat chapter’s first such project.

WASHINGTON – Long-term mortgage rates declined again toward new territory this week, with the average for the 15-year loan dipping to a new low, according to Freddie Mac.

WASHINGTON – CUNA urged the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today to rethink a proposal to allow the two mortgage giants to forgive principal on at-risk mortgages because of the effects the program would have on the broader mortgage market by encouraging borrowers to enter into strategic defaults in order to pressure their credit unions into similar loan forgiveness.

TINTON FALLS, N.J. – United Teletech FCU has introduced the government sponsored Home Affordable Refinance Program 2 to help homeowners refinance their mortgages, even if they owe more than the home’s current value.

WASHINGTON – Credit unions could be hurt by a proposal aired today that would allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to write down the principal on millions of at-risk mortgages, industry leaders warned this afternoon.

WASHINGTON – A bill introduced in the Senate would require colleges to counsel students before they sign on to private loans and inform them if they are eligible for federal loans.

WASHINGTON – The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage was mostly unchanged this week, at 3.98%, as the cost of home-buying and refinancing stayed near record lows.

RICHARDSON, Texas – The troubles for Texans CU in its member business loans grew worse as the ailing credit union giant was forced to foreclose on a $6 million note it lent to Tennessee’s Wild Wilderness Resorts.

Financial Resource Federal Credit Union has entered the solar loan market. When Marc Sovelove, SVP-lending for FRFCU, uses less electricity than what the solar roof generates, that extra energy flows back into the grid over its existing lines.

Consumers Credit Union has created a loan product for members approaching retirement.

ST. LOUIS – Anheuser-Busch Employees’ CU has rolled out a co-branded auto sales website with Enterprise Car Sales.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Summit CU has signed with AnyHour Solutions to implement the company’s AnyHour Loan-By-Phone 24/7 call center service.

Mike McCarthy, the director of retail loan production for Kinecta Federal Credit Union, knows the mortgage re-fi boom will dry up when interest rates finally move up from their long stretch of historic lows, putting all the more importance on purchase loans.

One of the major contributors to the housing bubble and subsequent collapse of the market was overinflated prices. Now, believes Dennis Flannigan, president and CEO of $103.3-million Great Basin Federal Credit Union, the opposite scenario exists.

Over the last ten years $23.7-billion State Employees' Credit Union has not had a single mortgage handed back to it by an investor due to poor underwriting.

Through the first three quarters of 2011 The Golden 1 Credit Union had by far the most mortgage originations of any CU in California-and it is actively advertising for more.

Mortgage originations today contain many of the same risk characteristics as found in years past, but Teresa Halleck, president and CEO of San Diego County Credit Union, said there is one important difference.