"When it looked like Candido Rodrigues would lose his home, he was rescued by an unexpected source: a credit union."
That's the opening sentence of the a story which appeared in the Feb. 13 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
It's a story about how credit unions are helping Americans like me get unstuck from the subprime mortgage muck. After years of record profits, banks--and their investors--now are stinging from losses and reluctant to accept additional risk. "Credit unions to the rescue," exclaims the Journal:
"Unlike big lenders, credit unions didn't suffer heavy losses in recent months because they never made risky subprime loans.
The story says many credit unions continue to refinance subprime loans and offer banking products no longer available from other lenders, including five-year adjustable-rate mortgages. And why do credit unions do this?
"Credit unions," says Allen Fishbein, director of housing and credit policy for the Consumer Federation of America, "offer more personalized service" than banks, which "can make the difference between people getting approved and refinanced out of a loan."
Candido Rodrigues is one happy guy--like me! You can read more at the Wall Street Journal website.
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