White House Weighs 'Bad Bank' Fix for Fannie, Freddie

Gov't will step in as conservator; Treasury will buy preferred stock

(NEWSER) - Citing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as "critical to turning the corner on housing," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson this morning announced a bailout of the beleaguered mortgage companies that includes his agency purchasing preferred stock, while the Federal Housing Finance Agency will step in as conservator. Additionally, Treasury is to buy mortgage-backed securities in the open market, and provide a lending facility, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Executives at government-owned mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are scheduled to receive six-figure retention bonuses, but Barney Frank wants the payments canceled, MarketWatch reports. “In this troubled economy, and in this job market, it is difficult to imagine that the companies would not be able to find competent and talented replacements for anyone who chooses to leave,” the House Financial Services chair said in a letter to a federal regulator. More»

Housing giants aim to reduce foreclosures

(NEWSER) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will roll out a plan today to modify hundreds of thousands of loans in an effort to prevent foreclosures, the Wall Street Journal reports. The mortgage giants, under federal conservatorship, aim to reduce mortgage payments to no more than 38% of household income. Private banks will be encouraged by the Treasury to perform similar surgeries. More»

Ky.'s Bunning appears to have problem with Fannie/Freddie move

(NEWSER) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson saved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but now he may have to worry about saving his own job: One Republican senator called his policies socialist and recommended that he and Fed chief Ben Bernanke resign, Bloomberg reports. “They have taken the free market out of the free market,” said Jim Bunning of Kentucky. More»

Feds must return GSEs to original purpose of providing liquidity

(NEWSER) - The Treasury’s rescue plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may be “superbly crafted,” Steven Rattner writes in the Washington Post, but it won’t solve the government-sponsored entities’ problems. Continuing as private-sector enterprises is a setup that “simply doesn’t work.” The GSEs had every incentive to abuse their government backing to profit private shareholders—and they did. More»