MFA selects Charter Bank to be a master servicer

New Mexico's largest mortgage lender, Charter Bank, has been awarded an 18-month contract to be a master servicer for the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority.

Charter will purchase mortgage loans made to first-time home buyers under the MFA's published guidelines, enabling the Finance Authority to securitize those loans and provide services to the state's mortgage market. The Albuquerque based banking company is one of two master servicers for the MFA. The other is U.S. Bank, whose parent, U.S. Bancorp, is based in Minneapolis, Minn.

"We've had this contract many times before. This is an important contract for Charter, because it not only allows us to continue to expand our mortgage servicing portfolio, but enables us to support the state's housing market, particularly with first-time buyers," said Charter Executive Vice President of Mortgage Lending Lyle Greenberg.

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Charter was one of five financial institutions, and the only New Mexico-based lender, to respond to a request for proposal put out by the mortgage agency.

Greenberg said it's impossible to predict exactly how many new mortgages will be issued by lenders around the state under the terms of the new MFA contract, but said Charter hopes to service an additional $150 million in mortgages, or more, by the time the new contract expires.

Founded in 1976, the locally-owned Charter is the fourth largest financial institution in New Mexico and the state's leading home lender, with assets of more than $1.4 billion and branches in Santa Fe, Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.