Credit Unions Looking for Borrowers Despite National Credit Crunch

According to the ""American Credit Union Mortgage Association"":http://www.acuma.org (ACUMA), while big banks stagger beneath the weight of the nation's credit crisis, credit unions are among the few financial institutions that have mortgage money ready to lend to struggling consumers.
The association wrote in a statement to the press, ""As consumers read about banks dying each day they worry about where and how they will find the funds to purchase or refinance a home in this new economy. But for many they have a surprising alternative to banks -- credit unions.""
Bob Dorsa, ACUMA president, added, ""Being the best kept secret for mortgage loans is not the distinction we desire or deserve. We have thousands of sound and trustworthy financial institutions ready to help American homeowners or those pursing the American dream of homeownership.""
In addition to being poised to significantly step up their mortgage lending efforts, ACUMA points out that credit unions will not be included with the growing list of financial institutions who've received a government bailout and are ""paying large salary bonuses to executives or throwing large parties at the expense of the financial institution or the American taxpayers.""
There are also plans to open ""Realtor Federal Credit Union"":http://www.realtor.org/about_nar/creditunion_index [FCU], which will be the first Internet-based credit union -- without branches -- serving a nationwide, single association, the ""National Association of Realtors"":http://www.realtor.org (NAR).
ACUMA Chairman John Reed, president and CEO of the ""Maine Savings FCU"":http://www.mainesavings.com in Hampden, Maine, touted the credit union industry's rising success in the frozen-credit environment. ""Many of the nation's largest CUs [credit unions] are experiencing substantial increases in mortgage loan volume as millions of homeowners seek to lock in lower rates through refinancing their existing loans. This is just another example of how America's credit unions are seizing the incredible opportunity in the current lending markets,"" Reed said.
Fred Becker, CEO of the ""National Association of Federal Credit Unions"":http://www.nafcu.org/ (NAFCU) in Arlington, Virginia, says that the reason credit unions have been able to weather this storm is because they ""never made the kind of risky loans that banks made."" Becker points to the industry's most recent numbers on loan defaults, which show loans originated at credit unions are defaulting at a rate less than half that of loans made by banks.
Richard Maxstadt, SVP and COO of ""CUC Mortgage"":http://tvmedios.ecu.com/, a full-service mortgage corporation serving credit unions in the greater Northeast, echoed Becker's thoughts on smart lending in the credit union community. ""Credit unions as a rule are conservative in their lending. Our loans tend to be plain vanilla, primarily 20- and 30-year fixed rate,"" Maxstadt said. ""Too many consumers forget that credit unions do make mortgages.""
One hundred years ago the nation's oldest credit union opened in New Hampshire and successfully weathered world wars and the Great Depression without once closing its doors. According to ACUMA, with that kind of track record, credit unions may be the ""sleeping giant ... coming to the rescue of the slumping American housing market.""