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Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services Opens Free Walk-In Center for Delinquent Borrowers With Freddie Mac Loans Borrower Help Center is Part of New Mortgage Modification Outreach Pilot

McLean, VA – Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) and Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services (NPHS) today announced the opening of a new walk-in Borrower Help Center where delinquent borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages can get free, confidential 'holistic' financial counseling and one-on-one help to obtain a mortgage modification from their lenders.

The new Borrower Help Center in Ontario, CA is part of a new national pilot program to provide holistic, financial counseling to borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages who are in financial distress and may be eligible for a loan modification but never called their mortgage servicers or have stopped trying.

"These centers are designed to help delinquent borrowers who are suffering during these trying times and want to save their homes from foreclosure but need a strong and reliable guide to navigate the workout process," said Dwight Robinson, Senior Vice President for Corporate Relations and Housing Outreach at Freddie Mac. "We are working with NPHS because they have the expertise and the community's trust to be the difference that puts a borrower back on their financial feet and keeps a family in their home."

Holistic financial counseling includes an assessment of borrower debt and credit issues that could affect their ability to make their mortgage payments after a modification. A recent NeighborWorks America study found borrowers who received such counseling from reputable non-profit groups are 1.6 times more likely to avoid foreclosure than other borrowers.

"As an organization which is dedicated to making a difference in our community, NPHS is witnessing a rise of foreclosures throughout the Inland Empire", stated Jed Davis, NPHS Executive Director. "The collaboration of efforts between NPHS and Freddie Mac is not only innovative, it is effective. This partnership is allowing NPHS to reach out to our community and provide foreclosure prevention counseling to more families than ever."

How the Borrower Help Center Works

Potential eligible borrowers identified by Freddie Mac will be contacted by NPHS and scheduled for one-on-one appointments. Delinquent borrowers with Freddie Mac owned mortgages can also schedule free appointments by walking in to the Borrower Help Centers.

Counselors at each Borrower Help Center are trained to review Freddie Mac and Making Home Affordable workout requirements with their clients. Counselors will also provide one-on-one guidance to help borrowers apply for modifications, supply missing information or documents needed to move an application forward, and work with Home Retention Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Lender Services, Inc., to help borrowers effectively connect with their servicers.

Counselors will also work with borrowers on other outstanding debt and credit issues, such as credit card debts or auto loans that may also be causing financial distress.

The NPHS Borrower Help Center is located at 320 W. G Street, Suite 103 in Ontario, CA 91762. For more information, contact the center at 800-761-6747.

Freddie Mac is opening up similar Borrower Help Centers in Chicago, Phoenix, and Washington, DC plus a separate Borrower Help Network where participating non-profit organizations will provide similar free holistic financial counseling by phone to targeted Freddie Mac borrowers across the nation. (For more information, visit freddiemac.com/avoidforeclosure.)

Freddie Mac was established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac supports communities across the nation by providing mortgage capital to lenders. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.

In 2009 Freddie Mac helped more than 250,000 borrowers avoid foreclosure through loan modifications, forbearances, repayment plans, modifications under Making Home Affordable and other alternatives. Freddie Mac accounts for nine percent of all seriously delinquent mortgages, but finances nearly 23 percent of the country’s home loans.

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