The primary difference between Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is where they source their mortgages from. Fannie Mae buys mortgages from larger, commercial banks, while Freddie Mac buys them from much smaller banks.
Unlike the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do not insure loans given by lenders. Instead, they buy mortgage debts from banks and other financial institutions. They package up a variety of mortgages and sell mortgage-backed securities to investors.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are two entities established by the government to boost the housing market. Fannie Mae stands for the Federal National Mortgage Association. Freddie Mac is the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.
Commonly referred to as Fannie and Freddie, these two companies were chartered by Congress to support the U.S home finance system. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do this by purchasing mortgages from lenders, packaging them into securities, and selling the securities to investors.
Differences between Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Although both buy mortgages, they purchase the loans from different sources. In general, Fannie Mae tends to buy loans from larger commercial banks and lenders, whereas Freddie Mac often buys loans from smaller banks.
Conventional loans are also called conforming loans because they conform to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac standards. 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.
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. FHA loans have more relaxed credit standards than conventional loans purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Fannie Mae Loan Ownership
Even if you never receive a single piece of Fannie Mae mail, the government-sponsored enterprise may own your mortgage. All of your payment, questions and concerns will be addressed to your loan servicer, though, so there's typically no need to even be aware that Fannie Mae is the owner.
A conventional mortgage is simply a non-government mortgage. These loans are not backed by the FHA, VA or USDA. In effect, it's possible for a mortgage to both “conforming,” meaning it meets Freddie/Fannie guidelines, and “conventional,” meaning it's not insured or guaranteed by a government program.
These mortgage loans, known as conforming mortgages, are guaranteed by Fannie Mae. This means they'll make investors whole if the borrower goes into default. Fannie Mae packages these loans into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) before selling them on the open bond market to investors.
Fannie Mae was chartered by U.S. Congress in 1938 to provide a reliable source of affordable mortgage financing across the country. Today, our mission continues to provide a stable source of liquidity to support low- and moderate-income mortgage borrowers and renters.
Fannie Mae can be reached at 800-232-6643 or Fannie Mae's website. Freddie Mac can be reached at 800-373-3343 or Freddie Mac's website.
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.
Instead, we purchase qualified loans from lenders. This provides crucial funding for the banks, so they can make more loans and keep interest rates low for borrowers like you. Freddie Mac has a set of guidelines for the mortgages we back. Mortgages that meet these criteria are called conforming conventional loans.
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).
Freddie Mac is an alternative name for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or FHLMC. Freddie Mac was created in 1970 as part of the Emergency Home Finance Act to expand the secondary mortgage market in the United States.
A conventional loan is often better if you have good or excellent credit because your mortgage rate and PMI costs will go down. But an FHA loan can be perfect if your credit score is in the high-500s or low-600s. For lower-credit borrowers, FHA is often the cheaper option. These are only general guidelines, though.
Conventional Loans
A conventional loan is a mortgage that's not insured by a government agency. Most conventional loans are backed by mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae says that conventional loans typically require a minimum credit score of 620. But lenders can raise their own requirements.
Cons: Why a conventional mortgage may not be right for you
The eligibility requirements for conventional loans are more stringent than government-backed loans. Conforming loans are sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac soon after being created to help keep mortgages affordable for homebuyers.
Fannie Mae is a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) created by Congress. Fannie Mae doesn't originate or give out mortgages to homeowners looking for funding but it does buy and guarantee mortgages through the secondary mortgage market.
Histories. 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).
Closing cost assistance is paid by Fannie Mae, and delivered to your closing. In order to be eligible, buyers must only complete an online course on homeownership, pay a $75 fee (which is refunded in-full at closing), and print their education completion certificate for “the file”.
The Federal Housing Administration is a subsidiary of HUD. HUD, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is in charge of setting up mortgage guidelines for FHA Loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is in charge of Conventional Mortgage Guidelines.
The key comparisons of the loans are that a FHA loan has a lower credit score requirement that is lower to qualify and a 3.5 percent down payment which may be less than a Fannie Mae loan. The Fannie Mae loan has a higher credit score requirement at 620 to 640 which is higher than the FHA loan.