Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac combined to complete 65,960 foreclosure prevention actions in Q1 this year, bringing the total of such actions up to almost 3. 5 million between the two GSEs since September 2008 when the conservatorships began, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA)'s Q1 2015 Foreclosure Prevention Report released on Tuesday.

Borrowers are warned to watch for the warning signs of foreclosure and to seek help if they look familiar. If a borrower is in need of help avoiding foreclosure, Freddie Mac lists several options to contact for help: the lender, housing counselors, Freddie Mac borrower help centers, and house finance agencies.

Fannie Mae reported positive net worth of $3.7 billion as of the end of 2014, slightly more than half of which ($1.9 billion) represented a dividend obligation to the Department of Treasury that was paid on March 31, 2015. Fannie Mae's net income for 2014 of $14.2 billion was only a fraction of the $84 billion the GSE reported for 2013, according to FHFA.

Those with lower credit scores who do get accepted for mortgage loans (and other types of loans) will almost certainly pay higher interest rates than those with higher credit scores; therefore, those with higher credit scores pay less over the life of the loan due to paying less interest.

Freddie Mac has laid off a portion of credit risk on more than $281 billion in unpaid principal balance for single-family mortgages through 13 STACR offerings and seven Agency Credit Insurance Structure (ACIS) transactions. More than one million loans have been represented in those transactions.

Also in 2014, FHFA and the GSEs reviewed and made enhancements to requirements for foreclosure alternatives, forbearance plans, and rate-reset notifications. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced in July the expansion of home retention solutions for Standard and Streamlined modifications, enabling eligible borrowers with mark-to-market LTV ratios below 80 percent to obtain a loan modification.

The STACR offering in late May priced at $425.6 million was Freddie Mac's fourth this year and 13th overall. Freddie Mac has laid off a substantial portion of credit risk for more than $280 billion in unpaid balances on single-family mortgages through STACR transactions.

EXPOs differ from Freddie Mac's Standard Pool Offerings in that the loans include smaller pool sizes and a longer marketing period. Freddie Mac is targeting smaller investors with its EXPO auctions, which are intended to give these investors extra time to secure funding to participate in the NPL sales. Freddie Mac began marketing the pool of loans on April 21 and encouraged private investors, minority- and women-owned businesses, non-profits, and neighborhood advocacy funds to bid in the auction, subject to meeting bidder qualification requirements.

Becketti brings extensive mortgage market research, modeling, and analytics experience to his new role at Freddie Mac, the GSE said. In his role as chief economist, he will be expected to lead a team that forecasts mortgage and housing market trends and conducts analysis and research on economic and policy issues affecting Freddie Mac.

One of the steps Freddie Mac lists for borrowers to take in order to avoid being the victim of a scam is, first and foremost, calling your servicer. The borrower's servicer is the only one who can modify the mortgage or finalize a loss mitigation plan – anyone other than the servicer who professes the ability to do so is a scammer, especially if they require the payment of an upfront fee.