HispanicBusiness

CINCINNATI, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fifth Third, a regional leader in residential mortgages, today unveiled a new home loan program: The Fifth Third Suite of Home Possible(SM) Mortgages. The Fifth Third Suite of Home Possible Mortgages encourages community stability by providing greater access to affordable home financing for working families and key community professionals.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991117/FITBLOGO )

Fifth Third is the first to work with Freddie Mac to offer this new suite of mortgages to borrowers at or below 100% median income or living in underserved areas. Beginning in early March 2005, the program will offer:

- Expanded flexible financing, which allows for up to 100% loan-to-value, or up to 105% total loan-to-value with agency subsidized secondary financing for down payment - Limited out-of-pocket expenses - as low as $500! - Flexible sources for closing costs and down payment, including gifts and grants from relatives, agencies and property seller contributions - Non-traditional credit references eligible - Special options for borrowers who serve our neighborhoods such as teachers, law enforcement and healthcare professionals. - Free access to required homeownership or landlord education

"Fifth Third wants to make as many home loans as possible because owner- occupied neighborhoods are the key to strong communities," reports Stewart M. Greenlee, Fifth Third Bancorp Senior Vice President, Mortgage Lending, "Working with Freddie Mac extends our lending capacity and helps us respond to the factors reshaping housing demand."

Greenlee continues, "The Joint Center of Housing Studies at Harvard recently published a study about homeownership affordability challenges. The study showed rising home prices are forcing nearly one-third of all Americans to spend over 30% of their monthly income for rent, while 13% spend half on housing! The population of underserved markets is also on the rise: the number of households headed by single women increased by almost 10 million between 1980-2000. Immigrants now account for more than a third of household growth since 1990. And minority homeownership rates still lag by nearly 25%."

Greenlee concludes, "The Fifth Third Suite of Home Possible Loan Program supports our broader initiative of bringing the dream home, which provides financing solutions to the challenges of meeting conventional mortgage requirements. All of which, we think, gets more people into more homes more quickly."

"Today's announcement underscores Fifth Third Bank's and Freddie Mac's mutual commitment to help more families realize the promise of homeownership," says David Stevens, Senior Vice President of Single Family Sourcing, Freddie Mac. "Home Possible represents one of the most significant new efforts to foster homeownership among moderate-income families in the past ten years. We applaud Fifth Third for becoming one of the first lenders to announce its availability."

Fifth Third's mortgage products and initiatives to bring the dream home include:

- Fifth Third Good Neighbor Loan Program No money down and alternative sources of funds for closing costs and credit references - Fifth Third Immigrant Homeownership Loan Program To better serve the 4.2 million U.S. tax-paying, foreign-born individuals in the Midwest - Hispanic Matricular Consular Card Program Expanded acceptable proof of identification sources to open deposit account relationships - Fifth Third Homeownership Mobile Created in concert with Freddie Mac, this rolling, internet-connected classroom allows customers and potential homebuyers to "get on board" and speak with mortgage and banking officers - Access to Down Payment Assistance Programs Fifth Third works with non-profit organizations to provide down payment and closing cost gifts and assistance. - Multi-lingual Homebuyer Training Classes Home buying training classes conducted in six foreign languages

Speak to one of over 1,000 local Fifth Third Mortgage Loan Originators, call 1-866-53LOANS, or stop by any Fifth Third Banking Center after March 14 to pick up a program brochure. Visit http://www.53.com/ to view a Fifth Third Homeownership Mobile multi-city tour schedule.

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. More information on Freddie Mac can be found on the company's website located at http://www.freddiemac.com/ .

Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Company has $94.5 billion in assets, operates 17 affiliates with 1,090 full-service Banking Centers, including 128 Bank Mart(R) locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 1,983 Jeanie(R) ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The financial strength of Fifth Third's Ohio and Michigan banks continues to be recognized by rating agencies with deposit ratings of AA- and Aa1 from Standard & Poor's and Moody's, respectively. Additionally, Fifth Third Bancorp continues to maintain among the highest short-term ratings available at A-1 and Prime-1 and is recognized by Moody's with one of the highest senior debt ratings for any U.S. bank holding company of Aa2. Fifth Third operates four main businesses: Retail, Commercial, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at http://www.53.com/ . Fifth Third's common stock is traded through the NASDAQ(R) National Market System under the symbol "FITB." Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991117/FITBLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.comFifth Third Bancorp

Web site: http://www.53.com/http://www.freddiemac.com/