The New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority has announced their top ten lenders for 2006, and St. Mary’s Bank is ranked sixth among the 49 lenders who provide individual housing loans through the Authority. The ranking is based upon the number of loans that a lender has provided to first-time home buyers over the course of the year. St. Mary’s Bank was ranked eleventh in 2005, and this year’s improvement has placed it solidly among the top ten.

Representatives from St. Mary’s will be recognized on February 21st at an annual banquet sponsored by New Hampshire Housing to honor the top ten lenders. “We make a big deal out of our top ten lenders,” says Elizabeth Lamoureux, Director of Home Ownership Programs for New Hampshire Housing, “because they do so much to help facilitate home ownership in New Hampshire.” The move up from eleventh to sixth place “represents a lot of very hard work,” says Barbara Cunningham, Vice President for Mortgage Services at St. Mary’s, “It’s the kind of work we remain very committed to because providing affordable loans to first-time buyers has always been an important part of our mission at St. Mary’s.”

In addition to being honored, the top ten lenders at the February 21st event will be given a report card from the Authority, helping them to understand how they can be even more effective. They will also be given the opportunity to offer input to New Hampshire Housing as to how the overall borrowing process can be improved for first-time buyers.

The forty-nine lenders who serve customers through New Hampshire Housing compete to be among the top ten in the Authority’s annual ranking. They are given a ranking each month and then on overall annual ranking. “To be among the top ten,” says Lamoureux, “means that these lenders are really taking the extra time with borrowers to help them settle into a loan and a home that they can safely afford."