CHARLESTON, S.C., Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- A new first-time homeowner initiative for families is underway in parts of South Carolina, thanks to several public and private organizations working together to offer homeownership counseling, workshops and a variety of mortgage products. The announcement will be made during the 2005 Housing & Community Economic Development Summit in Charleston. Under this initiative, Freddie Mac, the South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations (SCACDC) and the National Bank of South Carolina will help families become homeowners in Columbia, Sumter and Florence, S.C. "The South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations (SCACDC) is delighted to welcome Freddie Mac and the National Bank of South Carolina to the community economic development movement," said Bernie Mazyck, President & CEO of the South Carolina Association of CDCs. "Our efforts to build wealth among working families in underserved communities is strengthened with the addition of these two strong corporate participants." "Homeownership is the largest source of long-term wealth for many families and the path to owning a home begins with understanding the mortgage process," said Craig Nickerson, vice president of Expanding Markets for Freddie Mac. "The goal is to help more families overcome the key barriers to homeownership such as impaired credit, inadequate resources for down payment and lack of information about the home buying process. We look forward to working with the South Carolina Association of Community Development Corporations and the National Bank of South Carolina to help more people become homeowners." SCACDC will work with its local members -- Benedict Allen Community Development Corporation (CDC), Sumter County CDC and Eastern Carolina CDC -- to identify individuals who are interested in pursuing homeownership, as well as offer Freddie Mac's CreditSmart financial education curriculum. Participants will learn about budgeting, credit, the home buying process, and maintaining and keeping a home. The CDCs also offer Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) -- a special savings account in which the CDC will match 3:1 an individual's deposit, up to $3,000, to help low-income residents save money for a home. A major tool within the housing initiative is Freddie Mac's new Home Possible suite of mortgage products, offered through the National Bank of South Carolina. The Home Possible mortgage features low down payments and flexible credit requirements. Freddie Mac will buy eligible mortgage from the banks. "At the heart of our customer covenant is a deep sense of personal integrity, good financial stewardship and extraordinary dedication to our customers. By working with Freddie Mac and the CDC's in Columbia, Sumter and Florence through the Home Possible mortgage programs, we will help more families become homeowners," said National Bank of South Carolina's Alan Whitecross, Senior Vice President. "For 100 years we have been making financial dreams come true, and we are excited about the opportunity to make the dream of home ownership become a reality for many more families in S.C." Today's launch builds on Freddie Mac's efforts to expand affordable homeownership in the metropolitan South Carolina area. Over the past five years, Freddie Mac -- one of the nation's largest residential mortgage investors -- has purchased $26 billion worth of mortgages in the South Carolina area, financing 223,000 homes. Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned company established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac fulfills its mission by purchasing residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage-related securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and nearly four million renters in America. http://www.freddiemac.com/ DATASOURCE: Freddie Mac CONTACT: Patti Boerger of Freddie Mac, +1-703-903-2445 Web site: http://www.freddiemac.com/

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