First Interstate Bank opens Community Home Loan Center in South Los Angeles's Crenshaw District

Business Wire, July 14, 1995

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1995--To make home loans more accessible to South Los Angeles's low-income and minority residents and to step up its community outreach here, First Interstate Bank has opened a new Community Home Loan Center on Slauson Avenue in the Crenshaw District.

At a grand opening celebration yesterday, the bank's chairman and chief executive, Bruce Willison, said, "We're opening the new center to serve as both a lending office and an information and resource center where people can participate in educational workshops, receive personal one-on-one home buying assistance and apply for affordable-mortgage loans -- all in an environment that is convenient and inviting for residents of the surrounding communities."

Cutting the ribbon at the grand opening, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter commented, "I applaud First Interstate Bank for its commitment to providing loan and other financial services to the Crenshaw and South Central communities. Home ownership is a vital component in providing for the long-term economic well-being of individuals and communities. This Community Home Loan Center is an important resource for the Crenshaw community. It makes a significant statement that First Interstate Bank is serious about working together with residents locally, in their community, in helping provide home ownership."

The 1700-square-foot mortgage office at Crenshaw Towne Plaza will be staffed by two mortgage professionals, including manager Zeeda Daniele, a mortgage loan officer with eight years' experience who has specialized in helping inner-city renters become homeowners.

Rod Gaines, community reinvestment vice president for First Interstate's Residential Mortgage Division, said loans offered by the Community Home Loan Center will include First Interstate affordable mortgage plans such as the bank's Down Payment Assistance Program, which reduces the borrower's down payment to just 3 percent.

"With our programs, families earning less than $51,600 annually can buy a $100,000 home, for example, with an up-front cash outlay of less than $4,000," Gaines said. "We also makes it easier for people to qualify -- for example, by accepting more limited credit histories."

Paul Mullings, president of First Interstate Bank's Residential Mortgage Division, said, "Our Los Angeles Community Home Loan Center represents the latest in a series of commitments we've made to fund affordable mortgages for low- and moderate-income borrowers in the area. For instance, 1993 we designated $30 million specifically for affordable-mortgage loans to South Los Angeles home buyers. Since then, we've loaned $15 million to South Central borrowers, and we continue to accelerate our lending pace here."

Mullings also noted other affordable-mortgage initiatives:

-- First Interstate in 1994 established a special $50 million loan portfolio to retain selected affordable-mortgages as long-term investments that the bank otherwise would have re-sold to national mortgage investors like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The new portfolio gives the bank the flexibility to make affordable-mortgage loans based on its own expanded credit criteria. To date, the bank has made $25 million in loans statewide through the special portfolio.

-- Also in 1994, First Interstate became a partner in Los Angeles's "Home Works" program, along with two other lenders and Freddie Mac. "Home Works" provides $100 million for low- and moderate-income borrowers to purchase and rehabilitate inner-city homes.

-- First Interstate in 1993 invested $1 million in South Central-based Family Savings Bank, providing the minority-owned bank sufficient leverage to make an additional $20 million in home loans.

The First Interstate Community Home Loan Center is located at 3310 W. Slauson Ave. It is the bank's fourth community office in California dedicated to affordable-mortgage lending. In the past year, the bank has opened Community Home Loan Centers in Bakersfield, Oakland and Sacramento. The bank also is preparing to open centers in San Diego and Fresno.

The bank's Community Home Loan Centers and its affordable-mortgage programs are part of a commitment First Interstate made in 1993 to lend at least $2 billion over 10 years to community redevelopment in California.

Based in Los Angeles, First Interstate is the third-largest bank in California and the second largest bank serving the Western United States. There are 1,167 First Interstate Bank offices in 13 western states, including 407 in California. First Interstate Bank serves individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies and selected large corporations and financial institutions.

CONTACT: First Interstate Bank, Los Angeles

Rich Wyler, 213/614-4462 (office)

213/613-5995 (pager)

or

Councilwoman Galanter's office

Jeffrey Prang, 213/485-3357

213/237-1274