The Federal Home Loan Bank was established in 1932 by the Federal Home Loan Bank Act. This act was passed by the US Congress during the time of the Great Depression. The bank was set up with the primary aim of providing loans to the credit and savings institutions. This resulted in greater availability of mortgages.
The Federal Housing Finance Board is entrusted with the duty of managing the Federal Home Loan Banks or the FHL Bank Systems. This bank offers loans at affordable interest rates. The following are the kinds of loans provided by the Federal Home Loan Bank:
Home Mortgage Loans
Rural loans
Agricultural loans
Small business loans
Economic development loans
The FHL Bank System is the biggest provider of home mortgage in the United States of America. The bank system consists of twelve banks and are spread over fifty American states. The bank equity is held by over 8,100 financial institutions. The combined asset of this bank as on 2006 was about $1.02 trillion. The Federal Home Loan Bank finances its investments by issuing callable and non callable bonds.
The principle aim of the bank is to bring about improvements in the opportunities of housing in the country and promote decent and safe housing. The housing programs of Federal Home Loan Bank include Affordable Housing Program (AHP) and First Home Club (FHC). In the first program, 10% of the private earnings of the bank are utilized to create and preserve houses for families falling under the lower income group. Funds are provided two times a year. The second one involves offering of incentives to those households, which have an income level of and below 80% of the median income of that area.
The following are the places where the branches of Federal Home Loan Bank are located:
New York
Boston
Atlanta
Cincinnati
Chicago
Des Moines
Dallas
Indianapolis
San Francisco
Pittsburgh
Topeka
Seattle
