By STEVEN A. HOLMES
Published: September 30, 1999
In a move that could help increasehome ownership ratesamong minorities and low-income consumers, theFannie Mae Corporationis easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders. The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including theNew Yorkmetropolitan region --will encourage those banks to extendhome mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits. ''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,''said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer (and current Obama advisor). ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''
