Leverage The Opportunities
By Joyce Moed, Reporter

While many lenders are backing away from mortgages, one credit union is trying to leverage the opportunities that makes by offering a unique mortgage refinance promotion–one with no closing costs.

"What we did, in looking at the housing meltdown, is looked at how we can help our members for long-term success," said Kyle Markland, president and CEO of Affinity Plus Credit Union here. "The biggest obstacle for most people would be the closing cost."

So Affinity Plus CU decided to do something about that.

"We came up with a no closing-cost first mortgage," he said. "We didn’t market it at all. What we did was put it in the hands of our members and employees."

Throughout April and May, the CU saved 190 members $570,000 in closing costs. Affinity Plus CU is hoping to run the promotion again this fall.

"It was really well received. The member response was overwhelmingly positive," Markland said. "We helped them get out of bad situations. We helped them buy new homes. We really helped these members."

The members who received these loans also continued to do more business with the credit union, Markland said.

"They felt we were reaching out to them and helping them," he noted.