Much of the Farmers Home Administration's (FmHA) credit assistance to farmers now comes through loans made by commercial or cooperative lenders, but guaranteed against default losses by FmHA. Lenders and borrowers that participated in the guaranteed farm loan programs during fiscal 1988, along with characteristics of the loans themselves, are extensively profiled for the first time. Results indicate that loan guarantee programs generally serve large family farms that are highly indebted and are much more likely to fail than the average farm. Most loan guarantees are issued to existing customers and not to new customers, but interest rates and terms charged on these loans are consistent with rates and terms experienced by other farm borrowers. Considerable regional variation in the characteristics of program participants exists. Results have implications for the new secondary market for farm loan guarantees and in the graduation of FmHA's direct loan borrowers to guaranteed loan programs.