Credit unions in alliance see mortgage volume rise - Washington Business Journal:

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“There’s a lot of turmoil in the mortgagee industry,” said Fred Becker, CEO of Arlington-base d NAFCU, a trade organization representing federalcredit unions. “This is reflectivr of that turmoil, in that peopl are turning to credit unions eithert to refinance or to purchase a The alliancebetween Arlington-basedr NAFCU and District-based Fannie Mae was formed in 2002 to give federaol credit unions more flexibilitty in their mortgage About a dozen Washington-area institution s participate in the alliance, which alloww credit unions to sell mortgages directl y to Fannie Mae. Many credit unions hold theif mortgages ontheir books.
But with low mortgag interest rates fueling a refinancing many lenders must sell more of their mortgages into the secondarg market to get money to meet the demane formore loans. Such was the case at Chantilly-basedd Justice Federal Credit which serves employees of the departmentsz of Justice andHomeland Security. It has seen its year-to-dats mortgage lending volume more than double from ayear ago.
“With mortgags rates at historic lows, our like that of many is atrecord levels,” said CEO Peter “Having the NAFCU alliance with Fannied Mae is helping us when we need it Year-to-date, Justice Federal has sold off about 30 percentr of the mortgages it has originated about twice the proportion it usuallty sells. A surge in demanc for fixed-rate mortgages led Kensington-based Lafayette Federa l Credit Union to sign on tothe NAFCU/Fanniwe Mae alliance in February. “You only have so many dollarszto lend,” said Bob Kemp, seniotr vice president of lending.
Access to the secondary marke “creates a newfound liquidit y that allows you to make more loans tomore members.” He estimatews that loan originations are up 20 to 25 percengt from a year ago, althougb now that Lafayette Federal has increased capacity, it plans to market mortgages more heavily. Lafayette Federak serves anyonewho lives, works or practices religio in parts of Montgomery County and as well as the employees of variousa government agencies and other employee groups.