FREDDIE MAC, CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, USBC, CHARTER BANK, CCCS ANNOUNCE INITIATIVE TO RAISE HOMEOWNERSHIP TO NEW HEIGHTS

Sen. Bingaman, Rep. Wilson Offer Support of Program

Albuquerque, NM – Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, along with Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE), United South Broadway Corporation (USBC), Charter Mortgage, the Enterprise Foundation and Consumer Credit Counseling Services (CCCS) of Albuquerque announced on Sat., Oct. 1, a unique initiative to help raise homeownership to new heights in Albuquerque. The initiative includes an employer assisted housing benefit and the use of new technology to help housing counselors determine the mortgage readiness of their clients. The announcement was made at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, where the day's theme was "Raising Homeownership To New Heights."

As part of the initiative, the City of Albuquerque will offer the Freddie Mac-developed Workforce Home Benefit to help City employees own homes near their workplace.

The Workforce Home Benefit solution provides alternative approaches that organizations can use to create workplace housing assistance to foster homeownership among their employees. Through this initiative, the City of Albuquerque will be positioned to help its 6,500 employees with a variety of resources needed to become homeowners, including flexible mortgage products, down payment assistance, homebuyer education and credit counseling.

"I am pleased that Freddie Mac is working with the City of Albuquerque, Charter Mortgage and the other local partners to expand homeownership opportunities in Albuquerque," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). "Through this unique public/private partnership, City of Albuquerque employees will have greater access to home buying resources and will be in a better position to live near where they work and strengthen their communities through homeownership."

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) added, "More Americans than ever are accessing the American dream. I'm pleased that more resources and options are available to help more working families in Albuquerque make that step from renting to owning."

Employees who have worked for the City for six months or longer are eligible for the program.

"This program is very beneficial to City employees who would like to own a home," said Mayor Martin Chavez.

To prepare City employees for the challenges of homeownership, CCCS and USBC will conduct free homebuyer education and credit counseling at City offices, with support from The Enterprise Foundation. USBC also will offer down payment and home purchase rehabilitation assistance to eligible employees.

"People in Albuquerque and all across America are having a hard time finding affordable homes near the places where they work," said Tricia McClung, vice president of Housing and Community Investment for Freddie Mac. "Home prices continue to outpace wages in this area, resulting in an affordability gap. Workforce Home Benefit is one solution to this growing problem. We are pleased to be part of this effort to help City employees become homeowners and to add important momentum to the rebuilding and strengthening of neighborhoods throughout Albuquerque."

A new mortgage financing product that may be used with the Workforce Home Benefit initiative is Freddie Mac's Home Possible^SM mortgage, available through Charter Mortgage. The Home Possible mortgage features zero and three percent downpayments and flexible credit requirements to help low- and moderate-income borrowers qualify for a conforming conventional mortgage for a single family property with as little as $500 of the downpayment or closing costs coming from their own funds. As one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages, Freddie Mac will purchase eligible mortgages from Charter Mortgage.

"Consumer education is such a critical part of successfully owning a home that Charter Mortgage has provided office space to credit counselors for the last five years," said Glenn Wertheim, CEO/President of Charter Bank – Mortgage – Insurance. "Through our collaboration with Freddie Mac, CCCS and USBC, we can help ensure more people are prepared to make their dream of homeownership come true."

"United South Broadway Corporation is pleased to be a part of this team. As the cost of homes keeps rising, it takes collaboration to bring the needed resources to ensure homeownership for all City of Albuquerque employees," said Margy Hernandez, executive director, USBC.

"Consumer Credit Counseling Services is proud to be a part of this important initiative since everyone deserves to have the resources available to become a homeowner," says Brad Wallin, area director of education, CCCS.

In addition, USBC and CCCS will use Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector^® Outreach, the first-of-its-kind tool to help housing counselors assess the readiness of their clients to apply for a mortgage. With Loan Prospector Outreach, the housing counselor inputs the client's data into a web-based system that can pull and assess a credit report. Loan Prospector Outreach conducts a client assessment in just minutes, indicating whether the client is ready to apply for a mortgage with a lender or if they need to continue counseling. Charter Mortgage is working with USBC and CCCS to utilize Loan Prospector Outreach.

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and nearly four million renters in America.

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