Freddie Mac

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Judge Sums Up Banks' 2008 Behavior in 8 Words

'The magnitude of falsity, conservatively measured, is enormous'

(Newser) - If you had to name two banks guilty of selling lousy mortgage packages during the financial meltdown of 2008, it's doubtful you'd tick off the names Nomura Holdings of Japan and the Royal Bank of Scotland. But as Reuters reports, a federal judge yesterday declared that both lied...

FHFA: $600K Not Enough for Fannie, Freddie CEOs

Agency says better compensation needed to attract, keep top talent

(Newser) - Freddie Mac CEO Donald Layton and Fannie Mae CEO Tim Mayopoulos each earn a base salary of $600,000, plus money added to their retirement plans, under a 2012 salary cap put in place by the regulatory Federal Housing Finance Agency, Politico reports. But that may not be enough to...

The 3% Mortgage Down Payment Is Back

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac hope to spur homebuying among first-time purchasers

(Newser) - Apparently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac feel enough time has passed since the subprime mortgage crisis : The government-supported mortgage guarantors say they'll back mortgages with as little as a 3% down payment, CNN Money reports. Both agencies hope to encourage first-time homebuyers who may be having a hard time...

Pricier in 2014: Mortgages
 Pricier in 2014: Mortgages 
Dec 18, 2013 10:48 AM CST

Pricier in 2014: Mortgages

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac to increase fees

(Newser) - An effort to loosen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's grip on the mortgage market will come at a price: pricier mortgages. The two announced late Monday that, at the insistence of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, they will increase their fees to borrowers without impeccable credit (designated as those...

Feds Look to Deep-Six 'Forced' Home Insurance

Banks benefit from practice that has gouged millions

(Newser) - Since 2009, some six million "force-placed" home insurance policies have been written—expensive policies that hit homeowners if their original plans fall through, for instance, because they've fallen behind on payments. But these "forced" policies can cost up to 10 times as much as the original plans,...

Bank of America Agrees to $10B Fannie Mae Settlement
Big Banks Agree to $8.5B
in Mortgage Settlement
UPDATED
Jan 7, 2013 10:57 AM CST

Big Banks Agree to $8.5B in Mortgage Settlement

Banks agree to $8.5B deal with regulators, as BofA gives Fannie $10B

(Newser) - A group of 10 major lenders has agreed to pay federal regulators $8.4 billion to settle claims of foreclosure "robo-signings" and other abuses, the New York Times reports. Among the lenders onboard are JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America. About $3.3 billion of that will go...

Feds Eye a Fresh Round of Mortgage Relief

Refinancing could take on loans not backed by Fannie, Freddie

(Newser) - The White House is looking to roll out a fresh round of refinancing, this time adding mortgages that aren't backed by the government, reports the Wall Street Journal . Some 22% of mortgages—about 10.8 million—exceeded the value of the homes they backed in June, down sharply from...

Forget Execs: Fannie-Freddie Middle Managers Earn $205K+

About 1/6 of their workforce is making big bucks

(Newser) - If wild executive pay makes your list of "things to be depressed about," steel yourself: A new report on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will add the non-executive class to your register of woes. The inspector general's report, out today, looks at the 2011 pay of senior...

US Sues Bank of America for $1B in 'Hustle' Scheme

Prosecutors says bank foisted bum mortgages on Fannie, Freddie

(Newser) - The Justice Department has filed a $1 billion lawsuit against Bank of America over an alleged mortgage scheme known as the "Hustle" invented by its Countrywide unit. According to Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, Bank of America and Countrywide developed a procedure to rapidly generate thousands of toxic loans...

Gingrich Think Tank Files for Bankruptcy

Group he founded to study health care is going belly up

(Newser) - Just what Newt Gingrich's all-but-dead campaign needed: News that his health care think tank has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The Center for Health Transformation's filing cites liabilities between $1 million and $10 million, and some 50 to 90 creditors, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reports. The group intends...

Why It's Better to Default on a $1M Mortgage
Why It's Better
to Default on a $1M Mortgage
analysis
Feb 28, 2012 11:51 AM CST

Why It's Better to Default on a $1M Mortgage

Deadbeats stay in pricey homes up to 6 months longer

(Newser) - If you've fallen behind on your mortgage payments, here's hoping you live in a million-dollar home, because odds are the bank will wait a lot longer to kick you out. Borrowers who default on loans of $1 million or more get to stay in their homes an average...

$26B Mortgage Settlement a 'Modest' Help: Experts

Many struggling homeowners not covered in deal

(Newser) - The $26 billion mortgage settlement announced yesterday will be a boon for some—but the terms of the deal leave many homeowners out in the cold. Recipients of loans owned by the Federal Housing Administration, for instance, won't directly benefit from the settlement; nor will those with mortgages held...

Freddie Mac Bet Billions Against Homeowners
Freddie Mac Bet Billions Against Homeowners
INVESTIGATION
Jan 30, 2012 10:22 AM CST

Freddie Mac Bet Billions Against Homeowners

Has financial stake in limiting refinancing for struggling people

(Newser) - Freddie Mac was designed to help homeowners—but in 2010 and 2011 it wagered billions against them. The company invested in security packages that meant more cash for Freddie when homeowners couldn't refinance their mortgages. But Freddie itself regulates refinancing—and in fact has been increasingly denying refinances to...

Gingrich's Freddie Mac Contract Released

Newt reported to a top lobbyist in one-year, $300K deal

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich made $25,000 a month working for Freddie Mac, where he reported to one of the company's leading lobbyists, according to his newly released contract with the mortgage giant. The 15 pages unveiled by Gingrich's former firm cover one year of his eight-year, $1.6-million relationship...

Gingrich: Sure, Release My Freddie Mac Records

Says it's up to his former firm

(Newser) - Mitt Romney is demanding that Newt Gingrich release records from his time at Freddie Mac—and Gingrich says that's no problem ... alas, it's out of his hands. He tells ABC News that it would be "very helpful" for his former firm to release his contract with Freddie...

Gingrich: Freddie Money Went to 'Overhead'

Romney steps up attacks on Gingrich: 'It's a duck'

(Newser) - Saying he wanted to "set the record straight," Newt Gingrich once again defended his work for Freddie Mac yesterday, now emphasizing that the $1.6 million he took in over six years went to his company, not into his pockets, and that he was mostly concerned with providing...

SEC Sues Ex- Fannie, Freddie CEOs

Firms wildly misrepresented exposure to subprime loans: feds

(Newser) - Federal regulators are suing former Fannie Mae boss Daniel Mudd and ex-Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron for vastly downplaying the volume of subprime loans their firms held. Freddie Mac suggested it was exposed to between $2 billion and $6 billion in subprime loans; the figure was more like $244 billion....

Mitt: Newt Should Return Freddie Mac Money

Romney attacks Gingrich, again

(Newser) - Mitt Romney appears to have no plans to stop attacking new frontrunner Newt Gingrich. Asked on Fox News today whether he thinks Gingrich should return the $1.6 million he got from Freddie Mac , Romney said, "I sure do." He continued, "He says he was in the...

Newt Gingrich's Freddie Mac Deal Epitomizes Washington Slime | Timothy Egan
Newt's Freddie Deal:
the Epitome of DC Slime
OPINION
Nov 17, 2011 11:35 AM CST

Newt's Freddie Deal: the Epitome of DC Slime

This was classic influence peddling, writes Timothy Egan

(Newser) - You can laugh off Newt Gingrich’s giant Tiffany’s account , or even his marital merry-go-round . But his cozy relationship with Freddie Mac “encapsulates why Washington is broken and how the powerful protect and enrich themselves, unanchored to basic principles,” writes Timothy Egan in the New York Times...

Freddie Mac Paid Gingrich $1.6M

But only for his 'strategic advice'

(Newser) - Newt Gingrich raked in somewhere between $1.6 million and $1.8 million over the course of an eight-year span consulting for Freddie Mac, sources tell Bloomberg —a far cry from the $300,000 he was asked about in last week’s CNBC debate. His main contact was the...

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