RISMEDIA, June 9, 2009-As the costly burden of predatory lending and mortgage foreclosures continues to ravage families and neighborhoods across the United States, the “Fair Mortgage Collaborative” (FMC) is being launched on June 10, 2009 by mortgage lenders, foundations (including the Ford Foundation and Calvert Foundation), and advocacy organizations (such as the National Council of La Raza) to promote the use of fair and safe lending practices and its certification program. Families that escaped predatory lenders and used lower-cost FMC lenders in Los Angeles, Northern Virginia, and Seattle will participate in the news event and tell their stories to underscore the importance of FMC’s standards.
Lending organizations-including Boeing Employees Credit Union/Prime Alliance System, the Federation of Community Development Credit Unions, Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises, Inc., Mortgage Grader and Clearinghouse CDFI-are among those electing to become certified and offer mortgages that meet FMC’s rigorous certification standards. The Collaborative also includes loan counseling and lending networks (including NeighborWorks America) and secondary market intermediaries (such as Neighborhood Housing Services of America).
The Fair Mortgage Collaborative will hold a 9 a.m. news conference on June 10, 2009 at the National Council of La Raza headquarters in Washington, D.C. FMC will outline the full scope of its initiative, including the pillars of the Collaborative’s certification standards.
News event speakers will be:
– Janis Bowdler, chair, Fair Mortgage Collaborative;
– Howard Banker, executive director, Fair Mortgage Collaborative;
– George McCarthy, U.S. director development finance and economic security, Ford Foundation; and
– The Alvin and Debra Newman family of Los Angeles, CA., and Jeff Lazerson, CEO of Mortgage Grader, where the Newman family is now getting a FMC-certified mortgage. Other families will be present and the lenders that made them their loans under the FMC standards for fair and safe mortgages. The families will be available for questions and to tell their stories.
The Fair Mortgage Collaborative is a nonprofit membership organization whose members are individually and collectively committed to providing low and moderate income and minority homeowners and home buyers access to mortgages with the consumers’ best interests at its heart, at a fair rate of compensation.
