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

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“There’s a lot of turmoiol in the mortgage industry,” said Fred Becker, CEO of Arlington-basef NAFCU, a trade organization representing federalcredit “This is reflective of that turmoil, in that people are turninh to credit unions either to refinance or to purchase a The alliance between Arlington-based NAFCU and District-based Fannir Mae was formed in 2002 to give federakl credit unions more flexibility in their mortgagse operations. About a dozen Washington-area institutionsa participate inthe alliance, which allows creditr unions to sell mortgages directly to Fannie Mae. Many credity unions hold their mortgages ontheir books.
But with low mortgagre interest rates fueling arefinancing boom, many lenders must sell more of theier mortgages into the secondary market to get monet to meet the demand for more loans. Such was the case at Chantilly-basexd Justice Federal Credit Union, which serves employees of the departmentxs of Justice andHomeland Security. It has seen its year-to-date mortgage lending volume more than double from ayear ago.
“Withu mortgage rates at historic lows, our production, like that of many is at record levels,” said CEO Peter “Having the NAFCU alliance with Fannie Mae is helpinf us when we needit Year-to-date, Justice Federal has sold off aboutg 30 percent of the mortgages it has originated — about twice the proportionh it usually sells. A surge in demand for fixed-rate mortgagexs led Kensington-based Lafayette Federal Credit Union to sign on tothe NAFCU/Fannir Mae alliance in February.
“You only have so many dollarszto lend,” said Bob Kemp, senior vice president of Access to the secondarg market “creates a newfound liquidity that allows you to make more loanas to more members.” He estimatees that loan originations are up 20 to 25 percenft from a year ago, although now that Lafayette Federal has increasefd capacity, it plans to market mortgagesz more heavily. Lafayette Federal serves anyonewwho lives, works or practices religiojn in parts of Montgomery County and D.C., as well as the employeese of various government agencies and othee employee groups.