NASA FCU has confidence in the no money down loans because the credit union underwrites those more tightly than it does loans which are underwritten to the standard for the secondary market required by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, White explained.

Because no money down loans cannot be sold on the secondary market, the credit union's no down payment offerings are destined for its own portfolio.

The Maryland-based credit union, which has a nationwide field of membership based on SEGs, also limits the no money down housing loans to real estate markets in the credit union's closest region, the Washington, D.C., suburbs, where NASA believes it best knows the market and where the credit union is confident housing prices have hit bottom.

“We focus on the ability to repay the loan as the standard independent of what might happen to the value of the underlying asset,” White said, contrasting NASA FCU's no money down loans to the sorts of no down payment lending which helped fuel the housing finance crisis.

Those previous no money down loans offered by other financial institutions and mortgage brokers had been made on the assumption of rising real estate values, he explained, but NASA's program focused on ability to repay.

But if a member had the financial wherewithal to be able to easily repay the loan, why would they necessarily want a no money down mortgage?

White explained that some members were financially able to make mortgage payments, but were interested in not tying down liquid assets in housing finance.

He also explained that the loans carried an interest rate premium and that members understood they would pay a slightly higher interest rate because they had not put any money down.

NASA FCU had run the program past NCUA for risk and White said that after 36 months offering the loans, there had been no problems with delinquency. “These loans work well for the credit union and our members,” he said.

Navy Federal, by contrast, offers what it calls the Homebuyers Choice to all its members and doesn't underwrite the no money down loans differently, according to the housing finance executives with the largest credit union.

“We underwrite all of our loans so our members can succeed with the loan,” said Katie Miller, vice president for mortgage products for NAVY, adding that the no money down loans are extremely popular with members who might not be able to come up with a $20,000 down payment for a conventional mortgage from another lender.

The credit union also makes $2,500 available to members to help with closing costs and the loans allow up to 6% of the purchase price to come from the seller, according to the credit union's website.

Miller and Richard Morris, vice president of mortgage pricing and GSE relationships, put the loans in the context of the relationship Virginia-based Navy Federal has with its members.

“We know and trust our members and we believe they know and trust us,” Morris explained. “It really is all about our members. They understand how the credit union seeks to help them and they want to help the credit union too.”

Miller said the credit union had offered the no money down mortgages prior to 2008, but then put the program on a “hiatus” until February 2010 in order to reexamine and evaluate the loan portfolio. Subsequently they began to offer the loans again, she said, and report the loans perform very well.