May 14, 2003

BORROWSMART FOUNDATION NAMES NATIONAL EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR; ESTABLISHES HEADQUARTERS IN CINCINNATI

• Lisa Bouldin-Carter named first National Executive Director of the BorrowSmart Public Education Foundation.
• Permanent Foundation headquarters located in Cincinnati.
• Event commemorating establishment of national Foundation headquarters to be held on May 22 in Cincinnati.

CINCINNATI, May 14, 2003 – The BorrowSmart Public Education Foundation, a nationwide initiative to educate home equity borrowers and fight predatory lending, has announced the appointment of its first National Executive Director and the location of its national headquarters in Cincinnati.

Lisa Bouldin-Carter became National Executive Director effective this month, and will work from BorrowSmart’s new Cincinnati headquarters to make the Foundation an effective advocate for homeowners throughout the country. BorrowSmart has also named Provident Bank Executive Vice President Dick Gravino as its Chairman and National Home Equity Mortgage Association Executive Director Jeffrey Zeltzer as President.

Ms. Bouldin-Carter will continue to support the Greater Cincinnati Mortgage Counseling Service, which helps low- and moderate-income families become first time homeowners. She also trains housing counselors in courses around the country though the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation and other programs, and is active with numerous community organizations, including the NAACP Housing Committee, the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission, African American Leadership Development Program Class III, Cincinnati Development Fund as well as having been a member of Leadership Cincinnati Class XXII.

“Lisa brings a wonderful combination of talents to BorrowSmart,” said Mr. Gravino. “The Foundation is unique because of its focus on the increasingly important issue of home equity lending and because it is essentially a tool to help credit and housing counselors keep consumers in their homes. Nobody has more in-depth knowledge and hands-on experience with all three of the groups most vital to BorrowSmart @ consumers, counselors and lenders – than Lisa.”

To mark the opening of BorrowSmart’s new national headquarters, the Foundation will hold a BorrowSmart housing counselor training session on May 22 at The Legacy, 7617 Reading Road in the Valley Center, Roselawn. A continental breakfast will be served from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m. followed by a BorrowSmart Overview from 10 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. The training session for counselors who will be incorporating BorrowSmart into their programs starts at 10:30 a.m. and includes lunch.

“I’m tremendously excited about the opportunities coming in the months ahead,” said Ms. Bouldin-Carter. “The Greater Cincinnati Mortgage Counseling Service has been using BorrowSmart with our clients for over a year. I know first-hand how effective the program can be in helping counseling agencies do their fundamental job – educating homeowners about borrowing and making sure they don’t get in a position where they face foreclosure. I’m looking forward to extending the benefits of BorrowSmart to homeowners nationwide.”

About BorrowSmart
The BorrowSmart Public Education Foundation (www.BorrowSmart.org) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) foundation created in 2001 to educate homeowners about the home equity borrowing process, ways to avoid abusive lending practices, borrowers' rights and responsibilities, and how to get help if they get into financial trouble. BorrowSmart works with credit and housing counselors and other partners to get needed information and educational materials to consumers.

For additional information about attending the May 22 counselor training session, please call BorrowSmart at 513-679-5196 or 888-876-7889.