Whitman-based Mutual Bank has launched a $20-million mortgage solution fund, designed to help homeowners and prospective homeowners dealing with the mortgage crisis.

The bank said it is offering to help well-intentioned homeowners who may have obtained mortgages elsewhere, and now are under pressure. White said the program is also appealing to prospective buyers, especially first-time buyers, who would like to take advantage of unprecedented low rates.

"If you’ve put blood, sweat and tears into your home, we’d like to put some money into it," reads the headline on Mutual Bank’s latest newspaper ad.

"We have never been part of the mortgage problem," said Mutual Bank CEO Glen White. "And now we’re committing $20 million – at very attractive rates – to being part of the solution. We won’t stand by and watch our neighbors in southeastern Massachusetts become victims of the mortgage crunch."