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Rating Agency Aeris Upgrades Mercy Loan Fund to AA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 8/8/2016

Contact:

Amelia Laing

Content Manager

alaing@mercyhousing.org

303-830-3432

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Denver, CO—Mercy Loan Fund (MLF), a leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), announced today that Aeris, an agency that provides information for community investors, has upgraded its rating from A+ to AA. Mercy Loan Fund is one of the first CDFIs to be rated under Aeris’ new rating scale, which will formally launch in January 2017. Under Aeris’ current financial strength and performance rating scale, Mercy Loan Fund is rated 2 on a scale of 1 (strongest) to 5 (weakest).

“We feel very gratified to have received this two-notch upgrade,” said Jason Battista, President of MLF. “It reflects our deep commitment to providing reliable, flexible funding to socially-responsible community developers in support of affordable housing and essential community infrastructure projects. As the national affordable housing crisis continues, this critical work becomes increasingly important.”

Aeris provides the only comprehensive, third-party assessment of CDFI loan funds and helps community investors evaluate opportunities that meet their impact goals and risk parameters. Aeris Rating Reports draw on Aeris’ deep expertise and leverage their proprietary system for assessing CDFI impact and financial performance, risk, and mitigants. Since 2004, the agency has issued more than 600 CDFI ratings.

MLF’s AA rating signifies that it exhibits solid financial strength, performance, and risk management practices relative to its size, complexity, and risk profile. The rating indicates that challenges are well within the board of directors’ and management’s capabilities and willingness to strengthen, and that the organization is stable and is capable of withstanding fluctuations in its operating environment.

About Mercy Loan Fund

For three decades, Mercy Loan Fund has focused exclusively on funding affordable housing and essential community infrastructure projects that support affordable housing. By collaborating with socially-responsible developers, Mercy Loan Fund has helped finance the development of single and multifamily homes for rental and homeownership. These developments help a variety of people including low-income families, the working poor, seniors, farm works, people who have experienced homelessness, and people with special needs. Mercy Loan Fund is a subsidiary of the affordable housing nonprofit, Mercy Housing. For more information, please visit www.mercyloanfund.org.