“ KHFC Announces the Interest Rates on Conforming Loans by Bank and Maturity ”

- Conforming loan interest rates to be announced on the KHFC and Korea Federation of Banks websites for easy checking

- Raising transparency by announcing the interest rates on conforming loans and giving consumers greater choice

The Korea Housing Finance Corporation (KHFC) announced on May 21 that it would announce the interest rates on conforming loans by bank and loan maturity for the greater convenience of conforming loan users. Customers can easily check the interest rates of all banks that offer conforming loans on the KHFC and the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) websites without the trouble of having to visit each bank.

※ Conforming loans are mortgage loans offered at pre-defined terms suitable for securitization to finance long-term, fixed-rate loans from financial institutions. Financial institutions decide the product names and interest rates and sell the loans to their customers, and KHFC purchases these loans to issue mortgage-backed securities (MBS).

□ Latest interest rates announced on the website every Monday to broaden the choices of consumers and raise transparency

The latest interest rates on conforming loans by bank and maturity are announced on both the KHFC website (www.hf.go.kr) and the KFB website (www.kfb.or.kr) every Monday. For instance, interest rates as of Friday May 24 are announced on May 27.

Conforming loans have been well received by the market due to the transparency in pricing. However, customers previously had to make inquiries to banks individually in order to select the most favorable deal because interest rates varied across banks.

As customers can now easily compare interest rates across banks in one place, KHFC believes that the recent decision to announce the interest rates will further broaden consumer choices.

□ Conforming loans positioned as a standard mortgage loan product in Korea since their launch one year ago

Conforming loans were launched by KHFC on March 9 last year and are currently offered by nine nation-wide commercial banks and four regional banks (Busan Bank, Daegu Bank, Kyongnam Bank, and Kwangju Bank). Only one year after their launch, they are already a standard mortgage loan product in Korea.

Such a quick success in the market may be attributable to the low, fixed rates and the transparent pricing and single interest rate regardless of borrowers' credit ratings or prior banking history.

“By announcing the interest rates, we plan to raise the interest rate competitiveness of conforming loans to help low-income households become homeowners and thereby ease the house poor issue,” said KHFC CEO Seo.