FREDDIE MAC MANDATES 90-DAY FORBEARANCE TO HELP RETURNING SERVICE PERSONNEL AVOID FORECLOSURES

McLean, VA. – In an effort to help returning service personnel facing financial problems avoid foreclosure Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) today announced that it is requiring its 2300 mortgage servicers to automatically extend forbearance to borrowers recently released from active duty with the armed forces. This goes above and beyond the requirements of the Service Members Civil Relief Act (SCRA), which protects servicemen and women from creditors only when they are on active duty. Freddie Mac is one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages.

"We're extending this forbearance to make sure that lenders do not initiate or resume foreclosure for at least 90 days from a borrower's release date," explained Ingrid Beckles, Freddie Mac's vice president of default asset management. "This change gives lenders more time to work with servicemen and women and explore all relief options available."

The new policy appears in a June 10 update to Freddie Mac's Single-Family Seller/Servicer Guide.

If a service member needs assistance under the Freddie Mac policy, they should contact their mortgage servicer. The servicer will then assess the borrower's individual circumstances to determine the most suitable relief option.

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970 to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders. By supplying lenders with the money to make mortgages and packaging the mortgages into marketable securities, Freddie Mac sustains a stable mortgage credit system and reduces the mortgage rates paid by homebuyers. Over the years, Freddie Mac has opened the doors for one in six homebuyers in America and two million renters.

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