Freddie Providing Liquidity to Alt-A

Freddie Mac said Tuesday that it will add liquidity to the alternative-A market by providing 90-day forward commitments on a negotiated basis to what it calls "experienced" lenders.A spokesman for the company said the loans will not be held on its balance sheet. "We'll facilitate their securitization with our guarantee," he said. In a statement, company senior vice president Paul Mullings said, "Freddie Mac continues to be an active force in the alt-A market," adding that it will accept reduced documentation loans "underwritten with appropriate credit risk offsets." Freddie's announcement comes a few days after its regulator denied Fannie Mae's request to increase its balance sheet in an effort to provide some liquidity to the nonprime market. Freddie Mac can be found on the Web at http://www.freddiemac.com.