Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac | featured news

The $1-billion civil suit alleges that BofA's Countrywide fraudulently deceived mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into believing the company's risky loans were safe and sound.

The Treasury said on Friday it is changing the way Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will repay taxpayers in a move the Obama administration said would accelerate the winding down of the government-owned mortgage financiers.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage-finance giants, this week reported some of their best quarterly results since the real estate collapse. On Wednesday, Fannie Mae posted second-quarter net income of $5.1 billion. That is up from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year and an improvement from a net loss of $2.9 billion in the second quarter of last year. Fannie requested no additional money from the Treasury and said it would pay a $2.9 billion dividend to taxpayers.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday that the United States was far behind on reforming the country's housing finance system where the government's mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide funding for the bulk of U.S. home loans.

Edward J. DeMarco, who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has infuriated many by refusing to tell the home loan giants to reduce the amounts owed by distressed homeowners.

The federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said it would eliminate performance-based bonuses for senior executives at the two mortgage-finance firms.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has brought civil fraud charges against six former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying they misled the government and taxpayers about risky subprime mortgages the mortgage giants held during the housing bust....

Information is sought on the mortgage giants' roles as landlords who own thousands of foreclosed properties in California. Also sought are details of their mortgage-servicing and home-repossession practices, a source says.

A leading housing regulator on Monday announced changes to a government refinancing program that could help up to one million homeowners whose homes are worth less than their mortgage.

The U.S. regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accuses the banks of negligence in misrepresenting the risks embedded in the securities sold to the home-finance giants.