GSEs Launch Hispanic Initiatives

Freddie Mac has launched a credit education initiative for Hispanics and Fannie Mae has introduced mortgage options aimed at Hispanics and other "underserved" groups.Both new programs were announced at the annual conference of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals in Austin, Texas. Freddie Mac said its joint education initiative with NAHREP involves CreditSmart Espanol workshops that will be provided by NAHREP members in select markets. The free classes -- an expansion of Freddie Mac's trademarked CreditSmart curriculum -- will teach consumers credit and money management skills, with a special focus on preparing them for homeownership and paying for college. Fannie Mae said its new mortgage options -- enhancements to its trademarked MyCommunityMortgage products -- require only three lines of nontraditional credit sources instead of the four that were previously required in most cases. In addition, co-borrowers are not required to have an established credit history to count part of their income as a loan qualification as long as the primary borrower meets the minimum credit requirements. Fannie and Freddie can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com and http://www.freddiemac.com, and NAHREP can be found at http://www.nahrep.org.