ELMSFORD, N.Y. — Emigrant Mortgage Co. here believes it has found a like-minded approach between itself and credit unions in how mortgage operations are conducted. Realizing that affinity, Emigrant is now reaching out to introduce itself as another option available for specialized mortgage products for credit union members.

The common ground is in the "very conservative and prudent approach that EMC had developed successfully in other areas of the lending world, which seems to match and work well with the same or identical approach taken by CUs when addressing their members' needs," said Gail Newman, senior mortgage consultant with EMC. "We've devoted a lot of time to analyzing the credit union industry to first see if there is an affinity there for us, and we think there is one," she said.

"It's been a very interesting exploration for us, learning about credit unions and going to various credit union industry events. We wanted from the start to meet the people, to learn all we could about how credit unions do business so we could best present ourselves and show them what we have to offer."