Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Boosts Housing Market with Disbursement of More Than $9.4 Million in First-time Homebuyer Funding

Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta Boosts Housing Market with Disbursement of
More Than $9.4 Million in First-time Homebuyer Funding
Funds spur home purchases in a range of locations; help buyers establish solid
equity base

ATLANTA, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (FHLBank
Atlanta) announced today that it has disbursed in excess of $9.4 million to
more than 1,000 recipients through its 2009 First-time Homebuyer Program
(FHP), providing critical and timely economic support to the housing market.
For each of the past 12 years, FHLBank Atlanta has offered the matching funds
through its member financial institutions for down payment and closing costs
of eligible first-time homebuyers in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland,
North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Over 60 FHLBank Atlanta financial institutions accessed and closed down
payment funds ranging from $1,882 to $10,000 to more than 1,000 homebuyers.
Thanks to the funding, member financial institutions are able to expand their
customer base, originate new mortgages, and attract new homebuyers into the
market. The private funds -- derived from profits earned by the Federal Home
Loan Bank of Atlanta -- serve as an attractive tool to bring more homebuyers
into the market and also serve as a valuable form of equity that they can
benefit from in the future.

Since the program's inception in 1997, FHLBank Atlanta has allocated more than
$50 million to first-time homebuyers, which has allowed more than 9,000
families and individuals to purchase a home. FHLBank Atlanta estimates that
for every $1 of FHP funding awarded, $17 is generated in new mortgage business
for its member banks.

"FHP is stimulating home sales and mortgage lending in communities at a time
when the housing market and the overall economy need this type of economic
support," said Arthur Fleming, first vice president and director of Community
Investment Services, FHLBank Atlanta. "Relationships created between
first-time homebuyers and FHLBank Atlanta lenders are significant and can
provide a strong base for recovery of the residential housing sector."

The 2009 FHP offering cycle opened April 1, 2009, and continued until the
funds were fully disbursed to member institutions. Funds were provided on a
first-come, first-served basis. Individual participants receiving FHP funds
were required to complete a credit counseling program that includes
educational training on the home-buying process including courses on household
budgeting, mortgage financing, lending laws, and debt management.

The 2010 FHP offering will be announced in April 2010.

About FHLBank Atlanta
FHLBank Atlanta offers competitively-priced financing, community development
grants, and other banking services to help more than 1,200 member financial
institutions make affordable home mortgages and provide economic development
credit to neighborhoods and communities. The Bank's members -- its
shareholders and customers -- are commercial banks, credit unions, savings
institutions, and insurance companies headquartered in Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District
of Columbia. FHLBank Atlanta is one of 12 district banks in the Federal Home
Loan Bank System which since 1990 has contributed more than $3.6 billion to
the Affordable Housing Program.

* * * *
Some of the statements made in this announcement are "forward-looking
statements," which include statements with respect to the Bank's beliefs,
plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, assumptions, estimates,
intentions, and future performance, and involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors, many of which may be beyond the Bank's
control, and which may cause the Bank's actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from the future results, performance
or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
The forward-looking statements may not be realized due to a variety of
factors, including, without limitation: legislative and regulatory actions,
changes or approvals; future economic and market conditions (including the
housing market and the market for mortgage-backed securities); changes in
demand for advances or consolidated obligations of the Bank and/or the FHLBank
System; changes in interest rates and prepayment speeds, default rates,
delinquencies and losses on mortgage-backed securities; political, national
and world events; and adverse developments or events affecting or involving
other Federal Home Loan Banks or the FHLBank System in general. Additional
factors that might cause the Bank's results to differ from these
forward-looking statements are provided in detail in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov.

New factors may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to
predict the nature, or assess the potential impact, of each new factor on our
business and financial condition. Given these uncertainties, we caution you
not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These statements
speak only as of the date that they are made, and the Bank has no obligation
and does not undertake to publicly update, revise or correct any of the
forward-looking statements after the date of this announcement, or after the
respective dates on which such statements otherwise are made, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be
required by law.

SOURCE Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

Sharon Cook, Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, +1-404-888-8173,
scook@fhlbatl.com