BOSTON, MA -- (Marketwire) -- 07/05/11 -- The First Marblehead Corporation (NYSE: FMD) today announced that its subsidiary, Union Federal Savings Bank, began accepting applications for its Union Federal Private Student Loan and prepGATE® Education Loan programs on July 1st, 2011. These education loan programs, based on First Marblehead's Monogram® product platform, are intended to help finance the cost of higher education as well as primary and secondary education.

"The successful launch of our UFSB branded programs represents an important turning point for both UFSB and First Marblehead," said Daniel Meyers, Chief Executive Officer for First Marblehead. "First, it provides an avenue for the bank to acquire high quality assets which are key to UFSB's profitability; and second, it provides us with an opportunity to grow franchise value through our own national platform and products."

The Company also announced the recent addition of 9 sales people to its national college and university coverage team. The expanded team will be responsible for the national sales and marketing of the UFSB private student loan program as well as our partnered lending programs. The sales staff of First Marblehead's subsidiary, Tuition Management Systems LLC (TMS), is responsible for the national distribution of the prepGATE loan program.

"Our combined sales forces possess strong relationships with over 2,000 colleges, universities, primary and secondary schools," said Meyers. "Our ability to leverage these relationships is critical to our success, and armed with the types of affordable, consumer friendly products that our Monogram platform is designed to produce, we believe we have given our coverage teams the products and the tools they need to successfully service our school and university partners."

About The First Marblehead Corporation
First Marblehead helps meet the need for education financing by offering national and regional financial institutions and educational institutions the Monogram® platform, an integrated suite of design, implementation and credit risk management services for private label, customizable private education loan programs. For more information, go to www.firstmarblehead.com. First Marblehead supports responsible lending and is a strong proponent of the smart borrowing principle, which encourages students to access scholarships, grants and federally-guaranteed loans before considering private education loans. For more information, go to www.SmartBorrowing.org. First Marblehead also offers outsourced tuition planning, billing and payment technology services through its subsidiary Tuition Management Systems LLC. For more information, go to www.afford.com.

Statements in this press release, regarding the strategy, future financial or operating results, future opportunities and growth prospects, and competitive position of The First Marblehead Corporation, including its subsidiaries Union Federal Savings Bank ("UFSB") and Tuition Management Systems LLC ("TMS"), and the demand for UFSB's private education loans, as well as any other statements that are not purely historical, constitute forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based upon our historical performance, including the historical performance of UFSB and TMS, and on our plans, strategies, estimates and expectations as of July 5, 2011. The inclusion of this forward-looking information should not be regarded as a representation by us or any other person that the future results, plans, strategies, estimates, intentions or expectations expressed or implied by us will be achieved. You are cautioned that matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including economic, legislative, regulatory, competitive and other factors, which may cause our actual financial or operational results, including the performance of UFSB and TMS, facilitated loan volumes, or the timing of events, to be materially different than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include: market acceptance of and demand for the UFSB private student loan program and the UFSB prepGATE loan program; the volume, timing and performance of loans funded by UFSB; our success in commercializing UFSB's loan programs; competition in providing private education loans, including loans for primary and secondary education, and loans for post-secondary education; our success in developing and implementing marketing strategies with regard to UFSB's loan programs; UFSB's receipt and compliance with regulatory approvals and conditions with respect to loan programs; economic, legislative, competitive conditions affecting the demand for private education loans, including general economic conditions, the consumer credit environment, interest rates and unemployment rates; and the other factors set forth under the caption "Part II - Item 1A. Risk Factors" in First Marblehead's quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 16, 2011. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this press release, even if our plans or estimates change, and you should not rely on those statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

© The First Marblehead Corporation