Even though Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are technically shareholder-owned, they have been under government conservatorship since the Great Recession. Many investors who hold stock in the two companies are eagerly waiting for them to emerge from government control so their stock can trade on public exchanges again.
Fannie Mae is not a federal agency. It is a government-sponsored enterprise under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Share: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-backed privately held mortgage companies originally created by the U.S. Congress. Both provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the mortgage market, making them crucial to the country's housing system.
Though both enterprises are better known by their nicknames, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have more official titles: Fannie Mae is the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) and Freddie Mac is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FMCC).
Is Freddie Mac a government agency? No. Freddie Mac was chartered by Congress as a private company serving a public purpose. On September 6, 2008, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), appointed FHFA as conservator of Freddie Mac.
You may contact your servicer (often your bank or lender) to verify that your mortgage loan is owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or you may verify it yourself by accessing the Making Home Affordable website.
Frequently asked questions about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Is Fannie Mae the FHA? No. The Federal Housing Administration is a government agency that insures loans made by lenders to borrowers with low to moderate incomes.
Is Fannie Mae my mortgage servicer? No, Fannie Mae owns your loan, but we do not service mortgage loans. You can find your mortgage servicer listed on the loan purchase letter you received from Fannie Mae, or on the welcome letter/packet you should have received from your mortgage servicer.
So, to break down the acronyms: Fannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association, came from the acronym FNMA. ... Similar to Fannie and Ginnie, Freddie Mac, or Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, was derived from its acronym FHLMC.
You can look up who owns your mortgage online, call, or send a written request to your servicer asking who owns your mortgage. The servicer has an obligation to provide you, to the best of its knowledge, the name, address, and telephone number of who owns your loan.
Fannie Mae was first chartered by the U.S. government in 1938 to help ensure a reliable and affordable supply of mortgage funds throughout the country. Today it is a shareholder-owned company that operates under a congressional charter.
1920 in Chicago, U.S. Fannie May Confection Brands, Inc. is an American chocolate manufacturer headquartered in Chicago and currently owned by Italian company Ferrero SpA.
Ginnie Mae specifically deals with non-conventional loans such as FHA loans, VA loans, and USDA loans, also known as government-insured loans. ... Freddie Mac purchases home mortgage loans from smaller banks and lenders whereas typically, Fannie Mae purchases home mortgage loans from commercial banks, or big banks.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are federally backed home mortgage companies created by the United States Congress. Neither institution originates or services its own mortgages. Instead, they buy and guarantee mortgages issued through lenders in the secondary mortgage market.
As government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie and Freddie took on more risk than they should have. They didn't protect the taxpayers who ultimately had to absorb their losses. But they didn't cause the housing downturn. They didn't flood the market with exotic loans.
Anyone that has a loan that is backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, VA, FHA, or USDA are all federally backed mortgages.
The government's bailout of Fannie and Freddie has cost $191 billion. Since the agencies returned to profitability, they've repaid that amount and almost $100 billion more — and the housing market is more dependent on them than ever.
The names, however, are simply described by both companies as creative spins on the acronyms for their original names -- the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac).
Why Your Lender Sold Your Loan
By selling mortgages to companies such as Freddie Mac, lenders have the ability to continue making more home loans. Freddie Mac supports the secondary mortgage market by helping keep money flowing through the mortgage system, regardless of whether economic times are good or bad.
When you have a mortgage transferred to Fannie Mae, your loan servicer doesn't change right away. ... Once Fannie Mae buys a group of mortgages, they're turned into mortgage-backed securities, which are then bought by investment banks, insurance companies and pension funds.
Conventional loans aren't insured or guaranteed by a government agency, they're insured by private lenders. ... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-created enterprises that buy mortgages from lenders and hold the mortgages or turn them into mortgage-backed securities.
According to Freddie Mac's requirements, you'll need a FICO score of 660 or higher to qualify for a Home Possible loan.
The difference between a FHA and Fannie Mae loans are that the FHA insured loan is a loan by The US Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance backed mortgage loan that is provided by a approved lender. ... The Fannie Mae loan has a higher credit score requirement at 620 to 640 which is higher than the FHA loan.