Waiver program

The Waiver Program has been established for participants in MFA's Discount Waiver, Direct Stock Purchase and Dividend Reinvestment Plan (the "Plan") that are requesting authorization to make an initial cash investment or an optional monthly cash investment under the Plan in excess of the $10,000 monthly maximum purchase limit.

New participants must complete an Enrollment Form as well as a Request for Waiver Form. Once enrolled in the Plan, each participant will need to submit a Request for Waiver Form for each month in which they intend to participate in the Waiver Program. Participants should contact the Plan Administrator at (917) 320-6300 in order to receive a Request for Waiver Form. In any month in which we decide to consider granting requests for wavier, MFA may establish a Waiver Discount and a Threshold Price. The Waiver Discount is established at MFA's discretion and may vary from 0% to 5%. The Threshold Price is a minimum price set by MFA for the sale of MFA Common Stock under the Waiver Program. Participants are encouraged to call the Plan Administrator at (917) 320-6300 to ascertain whether MFA is accepting waiver purchases for that particular month.

If MFA is accepting waiver purchases in a given month, the Request for Waiver Form must be delivered to the Plan Administrator prior to the second business day before the first day of the ten-day pricing period for that month (please see Calendar for Purchases for the expected monthly pricing periods under the Plan). The Plan Administrator will notify each participant who submitted a waiver request as to whether such request has been granted or denied, either in whole or in part, by MFA within one business day of the receipt of such request. If a waiver request has been granted for a particular month, at least one business day prior to the applicable pricing period, the Plan Administrator must receive good funds as directed on the Request for Waiver Form for such month.

In the event MFA establishes a Threshold Price, each trading day of the applicable monthly pricing period on which the Threshold Price is not satisfied will be excluded from the pricing period and, for each such excluded trading day, one-tenth of the funds submitted by a participant for that particular month will be returned without interest. For example, if the Threshold Price is not satisfied for two days of the ten trading days in a particular monthly pricing period, then the amount of, and purchase price paid for, the MFA Common Stock purchased during that pricing period will be based upon the remaining eight trading days for which the Threshold Price was satisfied and two-tenths (i.e., 20%) of the funds submitted by such participant will be returned without interest.

Please review the Plan Prospectus for a detailed explanation of the terms and conditions of the Plan relating to the Waiver Program.

If you have additional questions regarding the Waiver Program, please contact the Plan Administrator at (917) 320-6300.