Freddie Mac's full menu of relief policies for borrowers affected by disasters is being extended to families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in locations declared Major Disaster Areas, Freddie Mac announced today. Freddie Mac is one of the nation's largest investors in residential mortgages.


"Freddie Mac and the nation's mortgage servicers are working together so
homeowners affected by Hurricane Ivan have one less thing to worry about,"
said Freddie Mac Senior Vice President Mike May. "Today's announcement means these families can work with their servicers right now to expedite the release
of insurance proceeds and receive forbearance on their mortgage payments for
up to one year."


Freddie Mac disaster relief policies provide a number of ways for mortgage
servicers to provide borrowers with relief that can help protect their credit
ratings and financial interests in their homes. For example, Freddie Mac is
allowing servicers additional discretion to reduce or suspend mortgage
payments for up to 12 months for borrowers with Freddie Mac-owned mortgages in
the declared major-disaster areas. Each case must be individually assessed to
determine which alternative will best fit the homeowner's circumstances.


Freddie Mac's disaster relief policies also strongly encourage servicers
to extend several other measures to help affected borrowers with Freddie Mac-
owned loans:

* Expediting the release of insurance proceeds to help borrowers secure
materials, labor and other resources to repair their homes;
* Waiving assessments of penalties or late fees against borrowers with
disaster-damaged homes; and,
* Not reporting forbearance or delinquencies caused by the disaster to the
nation's credit bureaus.

For more information on mortgage payment relief, homeowners should contact
their mortgage servicer -- the company to which they send their monthly
mortgage payment -- or call Freddie Mac at 800-FREDDIE. Freddie Mac's general
disaster relief policies are posted online at
http://www.freddiemac.com/singlefamily/relief.html. Since 2000, using our
loss mitigation plans, servicers working with Freddie Mac kept over 145,000
financially troubled families in their homes.

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in
1970 to create a continuous flow of funds to mortgage lenders in support of
homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac purchases mortgages from lenders and packages them into securities that are sold to investors. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than two million renters across America.

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