SAN FRANCISCO – Perhaps as a sign of the times, CMG Mortgage Insurance Company (CMG MI) has launched a new program to protect those credit unions that are lending a helping hand to members' post-hurricane rebuilding efforts. "The recent hurricanes in the Southeast prompted us to design and launch this new program to meet the immediate needs of credit union members," said Brian Shepherd, senior vice president/general manager, CMG Mortgage Insurance. "The thousands of people who became victims face dramatically high insurance deductibles on their damage claims. In addition, credit unions may find their members may not have paychecks coming in or they may still have miscellaneous expenses from living at hotels so they are not cash rich at this time and are faced with a tough situation. So we stand ready to help." The Disaster Relief Modification Program targets credit union members living in locations declared federal disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) and allows credit unions to insure new or additional amounts loaned to homeowners to help pay for their property and casualty insurance deductible. The program applies to existing CMG MI-insured loans and non-CMG MI-insured loans that may require mortgage insurance. The program is designed to supplement the standard CMG Mortgage Insurance disaster relief policies that include standard forbearance debt repayment extension and procedures. According to Shepherd, since CMG MI only works with credit unions, no other mortgage originator can offer what their credit union can offer to assist with this insurance deductible hurdle. "We are the mortgage insurance company that helps credit unions grow their business not just harvest their efforts," said Shepherd. Licensed in all states, CMG Mortgage Insurance Company operates as a joint venture between CUNA Mutual Group and PMI Mortgage Insurance Company. The company provides private mortgage guaranty insurance to protect credit unions against potential losses in the event of borrower default. "It is a win-win for everyone. It's pretty standard of mortgage companies to allow a borrower to miss a few payments and while that is still the case here this program goes beyond that step," said Shepherd. "It protects the credit union from loss from a loan while creating a new lending stream and the members benefit because they don't have to requalify for additional money and they can have access to those funds quickly to start rebuilding without the bureaucracy and long process of filing with state insurers since it is registered as a modification to an existing mortgage." The program has already drawn interest from several Florida credit unions including Tampa Bay CU, Suncoast Schools CU, GTE FCU, FAIRWINDS CU and Insight Financial CU. [email protected]