freddie mac

Long before the financial crisis, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were synonymous with moral hazard in the minds and classrooms of most economists. Everyone (including Fannie and Freddie) believed that if they got into trouble by making risky investments, the government would bail them out. Of course, the feeling that they wouldn’t be allowed to [...]

A plan to update the Community Reinvestment Act comes amid charges that the legislation was responsible for the subprime crisis and the collapse of the residential real estate market.

As the foreclosure crisis worsens, renters increasingly have become caught as innocent bystanders, evicted often without notice when their landlord faces foreclosure.

It’s hard to imagine now, but it wasn’t all that long ago when it could be hard to find average folks who knew or cared that much about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the oddly-named, government-sponsored entitites that own or guarantee about half the nation’s mortgages. The obscure workings of the secondary market weren’t exactly [...]

Startling requirements in out-dated, but still used paperwork raises questions about how well Treasury is overseeing the centerpiece of Obama’s foreclosure crisis solution.

Foreclosures jumped again in April, setting another record and providing more evidence that the housing crisis shows little sign of slowing down. RealtyTrac, which collects foreclosure data, reported a record 342,000 homes received notices of default, auction sales, or bank repossessions in April. That’s a 32 percent increase over April 2008’s foreclosures. And it means [...]

A longtime analyst for mortgage giant Freddie Mac who served as acting Chief Financial Officer since the firm was taken over by the federal government ast September was found dead in his suburban Virginia home, after an apparent suicide, The Washington Post reports. David Kellermann became CFO after the government ousted top executives of Freddie [...]

This should come as no surprise, though it’s certainly a sign that more hard times are ahead: Banks are moving forward with foreclosures now that voluntary freezes by lenders are over, The Wall Street Journal reports today.
As TWI reported recently, a ban on foreclosures by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ended for good [...]

Mortgage giants made no public effort to inform housing attorneys of changes to anti-foreclosure and eviction program.

Well, look at this: While we were riveted, watching that AIG public lashing on Wednesday, top executives other spectacularly failed companies –  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to be precise — are taking home some big bonuses as well, The Wall Street Journal reports.
From The Journal:
Fannie Mae is due to pay retention bonuses of between [...]