Contact: MICA (202) 682 2683
Email: pat@micadc.org
Contact: Diana Rubin (202) 973 5854
Email: drubin@porternovelli.com
PrivateMI Insurers Launch Nationwide Campaign Unveiling New Theme: "Own a Home Today, Not Someday."
Ads, Web Site Explain How PrivateMI Helps Americans Buy Homes Sooner, With Less Money Down
WASHINGTON, D.C.- 05/08/2000 - The private mortgage insurance industry today announced a nationwide consumer outreach campaign designed to educate the public about the benefits of private mortgage insurance, also known as PrivateMI TM. Sponsored by the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America (MICA), the trade association for the private mortgage insurance industry, the campaign will promote benefits such as allowing homebuyers to put as little as 3-to-5 percent down, instead of the 20 percent down payment often required.
"Most Americans are not aware of the role PrivateMI TM plays in helping expand our housing market -- by allowing them to buy their home sooner, for less money down," said Frank P. Filipps, Chairman and CEO of Radian Guaranty Inc., based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and President-elect of MICA. "Our goal is to communicate the fact that with PrivateMI TM, even Americans of modest means can enjoy the benefits of homeownership today, not someday."
The campaign will feature print, radio, and on-line ads that explain the role that PrivateMI has played for the last 43 years in helping more than 20 million American families buy homes. The ads will appear in media outlets, such as Newsweek, Time and The Wall Street Journal. The industry's story will also be told through their Web site, www.PrivateMI.com, which features a calculator that allows consumers to determine the down payment required if they use PrivateMI to purchase a home.
The first in a series of print ads underscores that PrivateMI TM helps homebuyers purchase homes sooner than they otherwise would. The headline reads "...You dream of owning a home someday. Why not sooner? PrivateMI TM. Today. Not Someday.''
Suzanne C. Hutchinson, Executive Vice President of the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, said the industry's ads will resonate with consumers. "Our campaign will make it clear that PrivateMI TM offers potential homebuyers a terrific boost onto and up the homeownership ladder," Ms. Hutchinson said. "PrivateMI TM makes it possible for first-time buyers to achieve homeownership years sooner than they otherwise would, eliminating the need for a hefty downpayment."
Further, Ms. Hutchinson said PrivateMI TM helps homebuyers keep their homes. "Since we began in 1957, the private mortgage insurance industry has worked with lenders to keep people in their homes even when they run into financial difficulty,"she said. "That record makes us proud."