Agency’s Own Data Show Principal Reduction Would Save Taxpayers Billions of Dollars Former Fannie Mae Employee Calls into Question DeMarco’s Response to Congress

Washington, DC (Feb. 8, 2012) – Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Committee Member John F. Tierney sent a letter to Edward DeMarco, the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), raising serious questions about his recent response to Congress arguing that principal reduction programs do not serve the interests of American taxpayers.

After months of withholding data and analysis, and in the face of a subpoena request, DeMarco finally sent a response letter to Cummings and Tierney on January 20, 2012, outlining his justification for refusing to approve any principal reduction programs for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“The single most significant revelation in your letter to Congress,” wrote Cummings and Tierney, “is that, even based on your own questionable assumptions and data, principal reduction programs serve the taxpayer interests even when compared to your preferred alternative of forbearance.”

This revelation directly contradicts DeMarco’s testimony before the Oversight Committee on November 16, in which he stated that principal reduction “is not going to be the least-cost approach for the taxpayer.”

In addition, Cummings and Tierney revealed that a former Fannie Mae employee has now provided new information about a pilot program for principal reductions that was tentatively approved in 2010, but cancelled by Fannie Mae officials several months before the November elections in which Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. According the former employee, the officials were “philosophically opposed” to the concept of reducing principal, notwithstanding the potential economic benefits.

“We have now become aware of new information,” wrote Cummings and Tierney, “that calls into serious question the accuracy and completeness of your response, as well as your motivation for continuing to oppose principal reduction programs even when they have the potential to save American taxpayers billions of dollars.”

DeMarco’s letter to Congress did not mention this pilot program, and instead repeated his claim that he lacks the statutory authority to proceed with principal reduction programs.

In their letter, Cummings and Tierney also highlighted new reports that DeMarco is now blocking efforts to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to participate in principal reduction programs agreed to as part of the multi-state settlement under which the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers will provide billions of dollars in compensation for their abuses and illegal actions against homeowners.

“It appears that your refusal to follow Congress’ direction and allow principal reduction programs is based more on ideology and the fear of political backlash than on a straightforward analysis of the interests of American taxpayers,” they wrote.

“Unlike almost any other official in the entire government,” they added, “you have an historic opportunity to improve our nation’s fragile economy, to provide real assistance to millions of struggling homeowners, and to save American taxpayers billions of dollars in the process. It is time for you either to seize this opportunity or to step aside.”

Below is the full letter:

February 8, 2012

Mr. Edward DeMarco
Acting Director
Federal Housing Finance Agency
1700 G Street NW
Washington, D.C.  20551

Dear Acting Director DeMarco:

We are writing in response to your January 20, 2012, letter which discussed your refusal to authorize principal reduction programs for underwater mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and which provided some of the analyses on which you claim to base your refusal.

The single most significant revelation in your letter is that—even based on your own questionable assumptions and data—your most up-to-date analysis demonstrates that principal reduction programs would serve taxpayer interests more effectively than any other alternative, including your preferred alternative of forbearance, particularly with respect to mortgages backed by Fannie Mae.  This revelation directly contradicts your testimony before the Oversight Committee on November 16, in which you stated that principal reduction “is not going to be the least-cost approach for the taxpayer.”

In addition, although we appreciate the information you provided, we have now become aware of new information that calls into serious question the accuracy and completeness of your response, as well as your motivation for continuing to oppose principal reduction programs even when they have the potential to save American taxpayers billions of dollars.

After reviewing the data and legal explanations set forth in your letter, a former employee of Fannie Mae has come forward with detailed information about a pilot program that was designed to offer principal reductions to borrowers with loans backed by Fannie Mae.  The program was tentatively approved in 2010, but cancelled several months before the November elections in which Republicans took control of the House of Representatives.

According to this former employee, the pilot program had obtained appropriate internal legal and accounting approvals, as well as the participation of a prominent mortgage servicing company, but the program was terminated by senior officials at Fannie Mae who were “philosophically opposed” to the concept of reducing principal.  The former employee also indicated that significant research had been conducted prior to initiating this pilot program, and that personnel from your office were directly involved in reviewing the program.

Your letter did not mention anything about this pilot program.  Instead, you repeated the unfounded claim that you lack the statutory authority to proceed with principal reduction programs at this time, and you focused instead on new analyses that you began receiving in December 2010, one month after the congressional elections.  If these allegations by the former employee are accurate, your response to Congress is seriously deficient and misleading.

Rather than highlighting these and other pertinent facts, you chose to begin your letter with a highly inflammatory statement that was quickly cited by the press—that it would cost American taxpayers $100 billion to reduce principal on all three million underwater mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  This was an answer to a question that was never asked and a flagrant distortion of the fundamental issue.  A more relevant figure would have been an estimate of the costs of taking no action at all and allowing all three million underwater mortgages to default—an amount that vastly exceeds your $100 billion estimate.

In fact, your own calculations prove that principal reduction programs prevent losses from occurring.  The data you provided indicate that implementing principal reduction programs for even a small subset of these underwater homeowners would save taxpayers an estimated $28 billion compared to the losses that would occur if no action were taken to prevent defaults.

Economists across the political spectrum have concluded that addressing the housing crisis is the key to improving our nation’s economic recovery, and they believe principal reduction programs offer a sound approach to addressing this crisis responsibly while serving the interests of taxpayers.

Over the last several days, however, we have received troubling new reports that you are now blocking efforts to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to participate in principal reduction programs agreed to as part of the multi-state settlement under which the nation’s five largest mortgage servicers will provide billions of dollars in compensation for their abuses and illegal actions against homeowners.

We understand that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is not part of the Obama Administration, and that you do not take direction from Administration officials, but it appears that your refusal to follow Congress’ direction and allow principal reduction programs is based more on ideology and the fear of political backlash than on a straightforward analysis of the interests of American taxpayers.

Unlike almost any other official in the entire government, you have an historic opportunity to improve our nation’s fragile economy, to provide real assistance to millions of struggling homeowners, and to save American taxpayers billions of dollars in the process.  It is time for you either to seize this opportunity or to step aside.
BACKGROUND

During your testimony before the Oversight Committee on November 16, 2011, you made two assertions:  that FHFA lacks the statutory authority to authorize principal reduction programs for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; and that after examining data and analyses, you determined that principal reduction programs do not serve the long-term interests of taxpayers.

Specifically, Rep. Tierney asked why FHFA refused to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to utilize principal reduction programs when the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 specifically directs FHFA, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac to “implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners.”

In response, you stated:  “I believe that the decisions that we’ve made with regard to principal forgiveness are consistent with our statutory mandate.”  You also stated:  “I do not believe that I’ve been appropriated taxpayer funds for the purpose of providing general support to the housing market.”  During your testimony, however, you identified no specific statute that prohibits FHFA from allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from developing principal reduction programs in select cases that would serve the long-term interests of both taxpayers and homeowners.

You also testified at the hearing that principal reduction programs do not serve the interests of taxpayers.  You stated:

We have been through the analytics of the underwater borrowers at Fannie and Freddie, and looked at the foreclosure alternative programs that are available, and we have concluded that the use of principal reduction within the context of a loan modification is not going to be the least-cost approach for the taxpayer.

In contrast, many leading economists believe that principal reduction programs could fulfill this goal while also serving the long-term interests of the taxpayers.  For example, appearing before the Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs, the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, William Dudley, testified:

We think that you can devise a program that, for home buyers that have mortgages that are under water, to incent them to continue to pay on those mortgages by giving them some program of principal reduction.  Obviously the devil’s in the details, so you have to have good program design.  But we are confident that one can design a program, which would be net beneficial—net positive—to the taxpayer.

At the conclusion of Rep. Tierney’s questioning, he asked you to provide both the statutory authority for your claim that you are prohibited from allowing principal reduction programs and the analysis you conducted demonstrating that principal reduction programs do not serve taxpayer interests.  He stated:

What you’re telling me flies in the face of all these people who have come up with a quite different idea. … I’d like you to do two things for the Committee if you would.  First, I want you to identify anywhere in the statute that specifically prohibits you from developing principal reduction programs. … [S]econd, I’d like you to submit whatever analysis you have done that shows why reducing the principal on some mortgages is worse for the United States taxpayer than foreclosure.

In response, you committed under oath to provide these documents, stating:  “We can provide that information as you suggested, Congressman.”

On November 30, 2011, all Democratic Members of the Committee wrote to follow-up on this request and to ask that you provide to the Committee “(1) the specific statutory provision you believe prohibits the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) from allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce mortgage principal in all cases; and (2) the analysis you conducted, including the data you examined, demonstrating that principal reduction never serves the long-term interests of the taxpayer when compared to foreclosure.”

After receiving no response, we sent a letter to Committee Chairman Darrell Issa requesting that he issue a subpoena compelling the production of the requested documents.

CONCERNS WITH FHFA RESPONSE TO CONGRESS

On January 20, 2012, you sent a three-page response letter explaining your rationale for refusing to authorize principal reduction programs for mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and providing data you relied on in order to make your decision.   Although you did not include any original documents, you did include a summary of three sets of analyses you were provided in December 2010, June 2011, and December 2011.  Based on consultations with experts in the government and private sector, as well as a thorough review of the information you provided, we have numerous concerns with your response, each of which is addressed below.

Claim That Principal Reduction Does Not Serve Taxpayer Interests

In our opinion, the single most significant revelation in your letter to Congress is that, even based on your own questionable assumptions and data, principal reduction programs serve the taxpayer interests even when compared to your preferred alternative of forbearance.

Your letter concedes that both principal reduction and principal forbearance programs serve taxpayer interests by reducing the rates of default and the numbers of foreclosures.  Nevertheless, you argue that forbearance is preferable because it saves more money.  As you testified at the hearing on November 16, principal reduction “is not going to be the least-cost approach for the taxpayer.”

However, your letter and accompanying data demonstrate the opposite.  The analyses from December 2010, June 2011, and December 2011 confirm that, in light of the significant uncertainty underlying your assumptions, there is no effective difference between the estimated savings from these two approaches.  As the analyses concede, any perceived difference between the two is “negligible given the model risk.”

In fact, according to the latest report you provided from December 2011, which is based on the most recent data and up-to-date analyses, principal reduction programs actually save more money than forbearance programs.  Table 3 on page 19 of your letter indicates that Fannie Mae would save more money with principal reduction programs than with forbearance.  It shows that implementing principal reduction programs for borrowers who are Net Present Value (NPV) positive would reduce overall losses by $28.3 billion, while principal forbearance programs for these borrowers would reduce overall losses by $27.9 billion compared to the cost of taking no action.

If your estimates truly guide your decisions, it appears that you are disserving the American taxpayers by subjecting them to unnecessary and avoidable costs because you refuse to approve principal reduction programs.

One explanation you provide in your letter for not approving principal reduction programs is that they would require “changes to the existing IT systems, which are outdated and inflexible.”  We do not believe this is a valid justification for inaction, particularly since you did not even ask Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to estimate the costs of adjusting their IT systems.

Claim That Principal Reduction Programs Would Cost $100 Billion

Rather than acknowledging that principal reduction programs serve the interests of American taxpayers, the first paragraph of your letter under “FHFA Considerations” included a highly inflammatory assertion implying that principal reduction programs could cost American taxpayers $100 billion.  You said this:

Putting this determination in context, as of June 30, 2011, the Enterprises had nearly three million first lien mortgages with outstanding balances estimated to be greater than the value of the home. … FHFA estimates that principal forgiveness for all of these mortgages would require funding of almost $100 billion to pay down mortgages to the value of homes securing them.

No Member of the Committee asked how much it would cost to pay down the mortgages of all three million mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that are currently underwater.  Nevertheless, your statement apparently had its intended effect of diverting attention from the questions we posed as news outlets immediately ran provocative headlines like “Mortgage Writedowns Could Cost Taxpayers $100B.”

To the contrary, your own data show that principal reduction programs would save taxpayers billions of dollars.  According to the data accompanying your letter, you examined borrowers with loan-to-value ratios exceeding 115% and concluded that taxpayers currently stand to lose an estimated $102 billion as a result of the defaults and foreclosures that will occur if no modification efforts are undertaken.  Your December 2011 analysis shows that implementing principal reduction programs would reduce these losses by $28.3 billion.

We have not identified a single press account in which you corrected the misimpression you created by suggesting that principal reduction programs would cost taxpayers $100 billion.  Beginning your letter with such a misleading statement trivializes the critical issues we are struggling to address and undermines your credibility and impartiality.

Statutory Authority Prohibiting Principal Reduction Programs

Your letter finally puts to rest the false argument that federal law prohibits FHFA from authorizing principal reduction programs for mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Your letter correctly references “three principal mandates set forth by Congress that direct FHFA’s activities and decisions.”  Your letter also correctly acknowledges that under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, “FHFA has a statutory responsibility to maximize assistance for homeowners to minimize foreclosures.”  Finally, your letter concedes that “FHFA did not conclude that ‘principal reduction never serves the long-term interest of the taxpayer’.”

What remains unclear, however, is why you have refused to exercise the authority Congress gave you to implement principal reduction programs.  As discussed above, your own data indicate that principal reduction programs would save taxpayers more money than forbearance programs in certain situations.

Your letter acknowledges that you might “reconsider” whether to authorize principal reduction programs “if other funds become available.”  This seems to be a reference to your ongoing efforts to seek additional taxpayer funds from the Treasury Department in order to provide incentives to mortgage servicing companies to conduct principal reduction programs.

Although additional incentives may be warranted in some cases, taxpayers have already provided $153 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it is irresponsible and contrary to Congress’ direction for you to refuse to authorize principal reduction programs when they serve taxpayer interests today, according to your own data.  In other words, if your own data show that principal reduction programs would serve the interests of taxpayers now, you should implement these programs immediately and aggressively rather than holding out for additional funds from the Treasury Department.

In addition, as discussed below, a former Fannie Mae employee has informed us that a pilot program to initiate a targeted principal reduction program was vetted by agency legal counsel prior to receiving preliminary approval, yet it was cancelled by Fannie Mae officials on ideological grounds.  If this assertion is accurate, it suggests that the use of legal arguments to prevent principal reduction programs is misplaced and misleading.

Differences in Re-Default Rates

Based on input from numerous experts on housing policy, we have concerns about the assumptions used to estimate acceptance and re-default rates when comparing principal reduction programs to principal forbearance programs.  In particular, the assumptions underlying your analysis may underestimate the benefits of principal reductions and overestimate the benefits of forbearance.

First, your letter observes correctly that borrowers are less likely to re-default when they receive principal reductions compared to when they receive principal forbearance.  It states that the model you used “assumes that principal forgiveness reduces the rate of re-default on the loans to a greater extent than would forbearance.”

Similarly, an August 2010 staff report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York agreed with this approach and stated:

We find that delinquent borrowers whose mortgages receive some modification have a strong tendency to re-default, but that different kinds of modifications have diverse effects on outcomes. … [T]he re-default rate declines with the magnitude of the reduction in the monthly payment, but also that the re-default rate declines relatively more when the payment reduction is achieved through principal forgiveness as opposed to lower interest rates.

The benefits of principal reductions may be understated in your analysis, however, since your hypothetical principal reduction program is not as sophisticated as programs proposed by experts or currently being implemented elsewhere.  For example, a number of principal modification programs include shared equity features that enable lenders or investors to recover a portion of appreciation in the home’s value.  In such programs, the “loss” from principal reduction may be less than otherwise assumed if the home is later sold at a higher value.

In addition, credible principal reduction programs typically seek to restore borrowers to positive equity positions and are likely to be more successful in obtaining borrower acceptance and preventing re-defaults.  According to your letter, however, you assumed only that principal would be reduced to 115% mark-to-market loan-to-value.  No data were provided comparing loans with loan-to-value between 101% and 115%, and no data were provided comparing modifications that reduce loan-to-value to any level other than 115%.

On the other side of the equation, it appears that the model used by FHFA to estimate the re-default rate for borrowers who receive forbearances may be overly optimistic.      In particular, the NPV tool appears to assume that if borrowers do not re-default within a given period of time (e.g., within one year), they will never re-default.  Such an assumption is highly suspect given projections that housing prices are likely to remain depressed for many years.  The failure to consider likely re-default rates over multiple years may skew your analysis to make forbearance appear more successful in preventing losses than it really is since many borrowers may be underwater for years.

Insufficient Detail to Evaluate Analyses

Your letter fails to provide any of the calculations made to generate the data presented in the tables that accompany the analyses.  In addition, it fails to provide definitions of key terms or to enumerate specific assumptions built into the models used to conduct the analyses.  The analyses appear to aggregate data from across 50 states and do not include any data on more narrow categories of borrowers, such as borrowers with loan-to-value between 115% and 125% or higher than 126%.  As a result, it is impossible to conduct a thorough analysis of the findings you have presented or to understand whether certain sub-sets of borrowers might benefit more than other borrowers from principal reduction programs.

INFORMATION FROM FORMER FANNIE MAE EMPLOYEE

A former employee of Fannie Mae has come forward to express concerns to us about your blanket refusal to authorize any principal reduction programs, even when those programs have been fully vetted by agency legal counsel and have the potential to save the American taxpayers billions of dollars.

According to this former employee, Fannie Mae officials conducted a significant amount of work developing a pilot program to test different principal reduction approaches and determine the most effective models.  As part of this effort, officials identified a major mortgage servicing company that was willing to become a partner in this program, analytical modeling was conducted by both Fannie Mae and the mortgage servicing company, consumer education materials were drafted, and a third-party counseling service was retained, according to the former employee.

This former employee has informed us that preliminary approvals for this pilot program were obtained from a variety of officials, including the Risk Subcommittee of Fannie Mae’s Executive Committee, as well as officials at FHFA and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  The analytical teams at Fannie Mae and the mortgage servicing company also reportedly analyzed a host of factors, including the comparative risk of re-default with shared equity modification options.

According to the former employee, the purpose of the program was to develop “a responsible way to reduce principal balances for underwater mortgage borrowers without creating undue incremental moral hazard.”  As the former employee told us:

The thesis was straightforward:  the program would minimize losses for Fannie Mae versus conventional loss mitigation practices.  The analytical modeling done by both Fannie Mae and its pilot program bank/servicer partner supported this thesis.

According to the former employee, after six months of development work, and two weeks prior to its launch, the pilot program was cancelled in mid-2010 by senior executives in loss mitigation at Fannie Mae who were “philosophically opposed to writing down principal balances.”

The former employee informed us that dozens of officials were involved in this effort and that FHFA and Fannie Mae would have all of the documents relating to this pilot program, including all of the legal and analytical reviews that were conducted.

The former employee also explained to us the purpose of coming forward at this time, stating:  “I believe that we could be saving tens of billions of dollars while also helping stabilize housing prices and stimulating economic growth.”

If the allegations put forth by this former employee are accurate, it is unclear why you failed to include any of this information in your response to Congress.  Even if you subsequently questioned the data or assumptions relied on for this pilot program, your failure to disclose this information calls into question the completeness and accuracy of your response, as well as your motivation for continuing to oppose principal reduction programs.

REQUESTS FOR RESPONSES, DOCUMENTS, AND INTERVIEWS

In order to address the numerous concerns raised about your response to Congress and the new information provided by the former Fannie Mae employee, we request that you provide the documents requested below:

(1)    All documents relating to estimates of losses that would incur if all three million underwater mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were allowed to default without any modifications.

(2)    All documents relating to specific default assumptions in the NPV model used by FHFA to compare modifications that include principal reduction with modifications that include principal forbearance.

(3)    All documents relating to estimates of re-default rates for mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including those that received modifications that include principal forbearance, disaggregated by loan-to-value level.

(4)    All documents relating to estimates of specific costs that would be associated with information technology upgrades needed to implement principal reduction programs.

(5)    All documents relating to analyses, if any, of the estimated consequences of reducing mark-to-market loan-to-value to levels other than 115%.

(6)    All documents relating to assumptions and estimates of the potential consequences of offering loan modifications, including forbearance or principal reductions, to borrowers who have mortgage insurance.

(7)    All documents relating to estimates of the number of mortgages owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that have mortgage insurance or second liens, as well as the share of potential gains from principal reduction programs that would go to unrelated beneficiaries as a result.

(8)    All documents, whether in draft or final form, relating to any pilot program developed by Fannie Mae relating to principal reduction modifications, including but not limited to:

(a)    records of communications, including emails, between and among officials at FHFA, Fannie Mae, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and any outside parties including mortgage servicing companies and consulting firms, relating to such programs;

(b)    legal analyses conducted before, during, or after consideration of such pilot programs;

(c)    accounting or actuarial studies evaluating shared equity modeling or other aspects of such pilot programs, whether prepared by government entities or outside parties;

(d)    consulting, analytic, or other contracts or memoranda or agreement relating to such programs, as well as any products prepared pursuant to such contracts or memoranda of agreement;

(e)    consumer education materials prepared relating to such programs; and

(f)    agendas, briefing papers, minutes, summaries, or other documents prepared by, on behalf of, or after consideration of such programs by the Executive Committee, including but not limited to its Risk Subcommittee.

Please provide the requested documents by February 29, 2012.  To the extent that no documents exist that are responsive to these requests, we ask that you provide a substantive explanation in response to the specific issues raised in this letter.  Thank you for your cooperation with this request.

Sincerely,

__________________________________        __________________________________

Elijah E. Cummings                                        John F. Tierney

Ranking Member                                            Member

cc:    The Honorable Darrell E. Issa, Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

source: http://democrats.oversight.house.gov

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NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release Contact:

Corinne Russell (202) 649-3032
January 23, 2012 Stefanie Johnson (202) 649-3030

FHFA Releases Analysis on Principal Forgiveness
As Loss Mitigation Tool

Washington, DC – In response to a request from members of Congress, the Federal Housing
Finance Agency (FHFA) has publicly disclosed the analysis that led the agency to exclude
principal forgiveness from its menu of loss mitigation tools. On Friday, FHFA delivered to
Representative Cummings, Representative Tierney and other members a letter summarizing
the agency’s determination and three separate staff analyses prepared over the past year that
formed the basis for the determination.

As requested, the information here provides the analytic and legal basis for FHFA’s previously
announced determination on the use of principal forgiveness as a loss mitigation tool. FHFA is
not seeking any legislative action in this area. FHFA remains committed to achieving its
statutory mandate to conserve the assets and property of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in
conservatorship while maximizing assistance to troubled homeowners, mindful of the net
present value cost to taxpayers. As FHFA has noted before and states in the letter, changing
circumstances may call for an updating of our analysis.

Background

Each month, FHFA reports on the full array of loss mitigation activities undertaken by Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, including loan modifications. Each quarter, FHFA reports on the
redefault rates on loan modifications. Those Foreclosure Prevention & Refinance reports may
be found here. Since establishment of the conservatorships, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have
modified more than one million mortgages and undertaken about 2 million foreclosure
prevention actions. Notably, the re-performance rate on loan modifications has improved
substantially as the modifications themselves now typically involve far greater reductions in
monthly payments than did modifications in the early months of the housing crisis.

When a homeowner owes more on their mortgage than the property is worth, this is typically
referred to as being underwater on a mortgage. Being underwater does not imply that a
borrower lacks the ability or the desire to make good on one’s financial obligation, nor does it
relieve a household from that responsibility. Indeed, FHFA estimates that, as of June 30, 2011,
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held 1.4 million mortgages with current loan-to-value ratios
above 115 percent. Of these, 1 million were current and 176,000 had been delinquent for more
than a year. For delinquent and deeply underwater borrowers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
offer loan modifications that include principal forbearance, which means no interest is charged
on a portion of the underwater amount.

Finally, for underwater borrowers who remain current on their mortgage, last October FHFA
announced changes to the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), which further
enhance the opportunity to refinance. These HARP changes allow these underwater borrowers
whose mortgages are owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take advantage
of today’s lower mortgage rates and to shorten their mortgage term, which would enable
borrowers to get back above water more quickly.

###

The Federal Housing Finance Agency regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $5.7 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions.

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Washington, DC (Jan. 18, 2012) – Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Committee Member John F. Tierney sent a letter today to Chairman Darrell Issa requesting that he issue a subpoena to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) compelling the production of all documents associated with its analyses of whether mortgage loan modifications with principal reductions should be offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

During questioning from Tierney at a Committee hearing on November 16, 2011, FHFA Acting Director Edward DeMarco testified that programs to reduce mortgage principal do not serve the long-term interests of taxpayers when compared to foreclosure. DeMarco testified that FHFA had conducted analyses supporting this conclusion, and he committed under oath to provide materials relating to these analyses to the Committee.

On November 30, 2011, Cummings and all Democratic Members of the Committee sent a letter to DeMarco requesting that he provide these documents by December 9, 2011. Despite numerous written and oral follow-up requests, however, DeMarco has failed to provide them to date.

“Given Mr. DeMarco’s failure to produce to the Committee the documents he committed under oath to provide and the call by Federal Reserve officials for the implementation of loan modification programs that include principal reduction to address the ongoing housing crisis, we believe we are left with no option but to compel Mr. DeMarco’s compliance,” Cummings and Tierney wrote to Issa. “For these reasons, we request that you issue a subpoena demanding these documents, or that you schedule a business meeting so Members may vote to authorize a subpoena in order to obtain these documents.”

Below is the full letter:

January 18, 2012

The Honorable Darrell E. Issa
Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Issa:

        We write today to request that you issue a subpoena to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) compelling the production of all documents associated with its analyses of whether mortgage loan modifications with principal reductions should be offered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  During a hearing before the Committee on November 16, 2011, the Acting Director of FHFA, Edward DeMarco, committed under oath to provide these materials to the Committee.  Despite numerous written and oral follow-up requests, however, Mr. DeMarco has failed to provide them.

        During the Committee’s hearing in November, Rep. John Tierney asked Mr. DeMarco whether he had determined, as a matter of policy, that it was preferable to foreclose on properties rather than offer loan modifications that include principal reductions, even if foreclosures resulted in greater losses to FHFA and U.S. taxpayers than would be associated with principal reductions.  In response to Rep. Tierney’s question, Mr. DeMarco stated:

We have been through the analytics of the underwater borrowers at Fannie and Freddie, and looked at the foreclosure alternative programs that are available, and we have concluded that the use of principal reduction within the context of a loan modification is not going to be the least-cost approach for the taxpayer.

        At the conclusion of his questioning, Rep. Tierney asked Mr. DeMarco to provide both the statutory authority for his claim that FHFA is prohibited from allowing principal reduction programs, as well as any analysis that FHFA conducted demonstrating that foreclosures always serve taxpayer interests when compared to principal reductions.  Specifically, Rep. Tierney stated:

What you’re telling me flies in the face of all these people who have come up with a quite different idea. … I’d like you to do two things for the Committee if you would.  First, I want you to identify anywhere in the statute that specifically prohibits you from developing principal reduction programs. … [S]econd, I’d like you to submit whatever analysis you have done that shows why reducing the principal on some mortgages is worse for the United States taxpayer than foreclosure.

        In response to Rep. Tierney’s request, Mr. DeMarco committed under oath to provide these documents, stating:  “We can provide that information as you suggested, Congressman.”

        In order to follow-up on this request, all Democratic members of the Committee sent a letter to Mr. DeMarco on November 30, 2011, making clear what information he should provide to the Committee.  The letter requested that he produce:

1.      “the statutory provision you believe prohibits the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) from allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce mortgage principal in all cases”; and
2.      “the analysis you conducted, including the data you examined, demonstrating that principal reduction never serves the long-term interests of the taxpayer when compared to foreclosure.”

        We requested that this information be provided by December 9, 2011, but Mr. DeMarco has failed to provide even a single document.  Minority staff have made repeated inquiries to Mr. DeMarco’s staff about the status of the document production, but they have failed to provide any indication of when he plans to comply.

        While Mr. DeMarco has failed to provide supporting documents demonstrating why a principal reduction program is not in the best interest of taxpayers, economists are increasingly announcing their support for such a program.  For example, over the past several months, officials with the Federal Reserve have made strong public statements supporting principal reduction.  On January 4, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke issued a white paper to Congress that stated:

Principal reduction has the potential to decrease the probability of default (and thus the deadweight costs of foreclosure) and to improve migration between labor markets.  Principal reduction may reduce the incidence of default both by improving a household’s financial position, and thus increasing its resilience to economic shocks, and by reducing the incentive to engage in “strategic” default (that is, to default solely based on the household’s underwater position rather than on the affordability of the payments).

On December 16, 2011, during a hearing before the Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs, the President of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, William Dudley, also called for implementation of a targeted principal reduction program to bolster the nation’s economic recovery and serve the long-term interests of U.S. taxpayers.  President Dudley explained:

[w]e think that you can devise a program that, for home buyers that have mortgages that are under water, to incent them to continue to pay on those mortgages by giving them some program of principal reduction.  Obviously the devil’s in the details, so you have to have good program design.  But we are confident that one can design a program, which would be net beneficial—net positive—to the taxpayer.

        The recent statements in support of principal reduction issued by Chairman Bernanke and President Dudley follow similar public statements issued by Neil Barofsky, former Special Inspector General for TARP; Alan Blinder, former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve; and Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody’s Analytics.  

Given Mr. DeMarco’s failure to produce to the Committee the documents he committed under oath to provide and the call by Federal Reserve officials for the implementation of loan modification programs that include principal reduction to address the ongoing housing crisis, we believe we are left with no option but to compel Mr. DeMarco’s compliance.  For these reasons, we request that you issue a subpoena demanding these documents, or that you schedule a business meeting so Members may vote to authorize a subpoena in order to obtain these documents.

        If you have any questions, please contact Lucinda Lessley at (202) 225-5051.  Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.  

Sincerely,

_________________________                         _________________________

Elijah E. Cummings                                               John F. Tierney

Ranking Member                                                   Member

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Washington, DC (Nov. 30, 2011) – Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and all Democratic Members of the Committee sent a letter to Edward DeMarco, the Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, seeking documents he promised to produce to the Committee regarding his analysis of programs to reduce mortgage principal and why such programs never serve the long-term interests of taxpayers when compared to foreclosure.

“For too long now,” Cummings said, “we have heard superficial excuses about why principal reduction programs are not feasible at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, despite a growing chorus of economists and other experts who believe these programs serve the long-term interests of taxpayers.  Even though commercial banks have implemented their own principal reduction programs, FHFA stubbornly continues to favor massive waves of foreclosures.  It’s high time to see the actual data and analyses behind this policy, and to work towards new approaches that finally put American homeowners and our nation’s economy first.”

DeMarco committed to providing these documents during a hearing before the Committee on November 16, 2011, in response to questioning by Representative John Tierney, who pointed out that several banks are already implementing principal reduction programs that serve their financial interests while providing assistance to homeowners.  The Members requested that DeMarco provide the documents by December 9, 2011. 

The full letter follows:

November 30, 2011

Mr. Edward DeMarco
Acting Director
Federal Housing Finance Agency
1700 G Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20551

Dear Acting Director DeMarco:

            During the Committee’s hearing on November 16, 2011, you agreed to provide the Committee with:  (1) the specific statutory provision you believe prohibits the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) from allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce mortgage principal in all cases; and (2) the analysis you conducted, including the data you examined, demonstrating that principal reduction never serves the long-term interests of the taxpayer when compared to foreclosure.  We are writing to request that you provide these documents by December 9, 2011.

            When you were asked about statutory prohibitions against principal reduction programs, you responded:  “I believe that the decisions that we’ve made with regard to principal forgiveness are consistent with our statutory mandate.”  Although you were not asked about providing “general support” to the housing market, you also said this:  “I do not believe that I’ve been appropriated taxpayer funds for the purpose of providing general support to the housing market.”  During your testimony, however, you identified no specific statute that prohibits FHFA from allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from developing principal forgiveness programs in select cases that would serve the long-term interests of both taxpayers and homeowners.

            As Rep. John Tierney explained, when Congress enacted the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act in 2008, it specifically directed FHFA, Freddie Mac, and Fannie Mae, among other things, to “implement a plan that seeks to maximize assistance for homeowners.”  Many economists believe that principal reduction programs could fulfill this goal while also serving the long-term interests of the taxpayers who are funding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  They include the following:

• Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke:  “In this environment, principal reductions that restore some equity for the homeowner may be a relatively more effective means of avoiding delinquency and foreclosure.”

• Martin S. Feldstein, former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Reagan:  “To halt the fall in house prices, the government should reduce mortgage principal when it exceeds 110 percent of the home value.”

• Alan Blinder, Former Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve:  “Most economists see principal reductions as central to preventing foreclosures. … Perhaps the cost to taxpayers could be reduced by giving the government—or even private investors—some of the upside when house prices finally start climbing.”

• Neil Barofsky, former Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program:  “There needs to be a recognition that many borrowers will never make the required payments on their underwater mortgages, and that the owners of these mortgages have already lost any meaningful chance of obtaining a full recovery of the outstanding principal.  The sooner that this reality is recognized and addressed, the sooner a recovery can take hold.  As such, an aggressive principal reduction program is necessary.”

          During your testimony, you stated that you had completed a thorough analysis of why foreclosures always serve the interests of taxpayers better than principal reduction programs.  Specifically, you stated:

We have been through the analytics of the underwater borrowers at Fannie and Freddie, and looked at the foreclosure alternative programs that are available, and we have concluded that the use of principal reduction within the context of a loan modification is not going to be the least-cost approach for the taxpayer.

          As Rep. Tierney noted, however, several banks are already implementing principal reduction programs that serve their financial interests while providing assistance to homeowners.  For example, Ocwen has established a program under which a servicer may reduce a loan to 95% of a home’s fair market value, and the excess principal is forgiven over three years as long as the homeowner remains current on mortgage payments.  When the home is sold or refinanced, the borrower is required to share 25% of the appreciated value with Ocwen.  According to the company’s CEO:

Shared appreciation modifications help homeowners avoid foreclosure and restore equity, providing a significant benefit to the customer, the economy, and the housing market.

          Other banks also have principal reduction programs, including JPMorgan Chase, Ally Financial, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, which reportedly reduced the balances of approximately 73,000 borrowers by an average of $51,000 in 2009 and 2010.

          At the conclusion of Rep. Tierney’s questioning, he asked you to provide both the statutory authority for your claim that you are prohibited from allowing principal reduction programs and the analysis you conducted demonstrating that foreclosures always serve taxpayer interests when compared to principal reductions.  He stated:

What you’re telling me flies in the face of all these people who have come up with a quite different idea. … I’d like you to do two things for the Committee if you would.  First, I want you to identify anywhere in the statute that specifically prohibits you from developing principal reduction programs. … [S]econd, I’d like you to submit whatever analysis you have done that shows why reducing the principal on some mortgages is worse for the United States taxpayer than foreclosure.

          In response, you committed under oath to providing these documents, stating:  “We can provide that information as you suggested, Congressman.”

          We are writing to request that you provide this information by December 9, 2011.  If you have any questions, please contact Davida Walsh at (202) 225-5051.  Thank you for your cooperation with this request.
Sincerely,
Elijah E. Cummings                                                       Edolphus Towns
Ranking Member                                                          Member
Carolyn B. Maloney                                                     Eleanor Holmes Norton
Member                                                                       Member
Dennis J. Kucinich                                                        John F. Tierney
Member                                                                       Member          
Wm. Lacy Clay                                                            Stephen F. Lynch                                            
Member                                                                       Member
Jim Cooper                                                                  Gerald E. Connolly
Member                                                                       Member
Mike Quigley                                                                Danny K. Davis                                               
Member                                                                       Member
Bruce Braley                                                                Peter Welch
Member                                                                       Member
John Yarmuth                                                               Christopher S. Murphy                        
Member                                                                       Member
Jackie Speier
Member

cc:        The Honorable Darrell E. Issa, Chairman
            Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

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source: http://democrats.oversight.house.gov

Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco has announced the appointments of Richard B. Hornsby, as FHFA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO),
and Jon Greenlee, as the agency’s Deputy Director of the Division of Enterprise Regulation.

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Even though Fannie and Freddie rely on taxpayers, they act no different than those at Wall Street and are full of fraud.

If you lay down next to dirty dogs, you’ll eventually get their fleas. Double dip in 3, 2, 1…

Let’s not kid ourselves, wall street really controls them.

Bloomberg-

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on bonuses paid to executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as congressional lawmakers increase scrutiny of the two government-controlled companies.

In the House, Republican Randy Neugebauer of Texas has demanded information on the companies’ spending, including almost $842 million in Fannie Mae salaries and benefits budgeted for 2011.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to suffer losses three years after being taken under government conservatorship. Today, Freddie Mac reported a $4.4 billion, third-quarter loss and said it will seek $6 billion from the U.S. Treasury Department to eliminate a net-worth deficit. Combined, the two companies have required about $145 billion in taxpayer aid since 2008.

[BLOOMBERG]

By Abigail Caplovitz Field | September 22, 2011

Dear Representative Issa:

Thank you for investigating Fannie Mae’s purchase of mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America. As I detail below much more thoroughly than I did in my Fortune.com piece that you cited in your letter, the $500 million purchase is a backdoor bailout until proven otherwise.

Please continue reading … Dear Representative Issa

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DeMarco said Fannie Mae will not service the loans itself, instead transferring the loans to an undisclosed third party.

Kansas City-

Bank of America Corp.’s sale of mortgage servicing rights to Fannie Mae, a transaction that spurred a congressional inquiry last week, “made sense for both companies,” the regulator of the government-controlled mortgage giant told reporters Monday.

“We are certainly concerned about ensuring that these higher-risk mortgages are adequately and appropriately serviced, and this was an arrangement that helped to realize that goal,” Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said after remarks at a mortgage conference sponsored by the N.C. Bankers Association.

Is Fannie Mae’s Purchase of Troubled B of A Portfolio a Back-Door Bailout?

Oversight Chairman Issa Asks FHFA to Address Questions Raised about Purchase of Risky Portfolio with Deteriorating Value

(WASHINGTON) – Fannie Mae, the government sponsored enterprise bailed out with billions in taxpayer dollars has agreed to buy a portfolio of high risk, deteriorating value loans from Bank of America (B of A). House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has opened an investigation into this purchase and requested that Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward DeMarco provide to the Committee documents and a full explanation of the agency’s decision-making process in this purchase.

In a letter sent to DeMarco today, Issa said Fannie Mae’s purchase of mortgage servicing rights from Bank of America is worrisome because as a government-backed enterprise Fannie Mae does not traditionally service mortgages. He also pointed out that the transaction likely shifted to Fannie Mae a significant amount of risk previously held by B of A.

Issa cited an August Wall Street Journal report that Fannie Mae had agreed to purchase from B of A “rights to process and collect payments on a pool of 400,000 loans with an unpaid principal balance of $73 billion.” Fannie Mae paid B of A $500 million for this portfolio. The story also pointed out that, “the bank decided to sell the portfolio at a loss because its value is expected to deteriorate further.” The loans purchased by Fannie Mae are reported to have a delinquency rate of more than 13% (twice the national average) with more than half of the loans on properties in troubled local markets.

To date, the Treasury Department has provided Fannie Mae (and its sibling government sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac) with over $150 billion since they entered conservatorship in September 2009. In addition, the Federal Reserve Board has committed to purchase $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities owned by the enterprises. In August Fannie Mae announced that it would seek an additional $5.1 billion from the Treasury Department.

“Some commentators have labeled this transaction as a back-door bailout of B of A by permitting the bank to shift part of its risky portfolio to American taxpayers. Under these circumstances, I am unclear why the FHFA allowed Fannie to proceed with the transaction,” Issa wrote.

“Congress and the American people deserve a full explanation for what appears to be yet another bailout paid for by taxpayers benefitting businesses that made bad business decisions,” he said.

Issa’s letter to DeMarco included a dozen detailed questions about FHFA’s oversight and Fannie Mae’s process of evaluating the portfolio, assessing risk, and preventing further losses that could jeopardize the enterprise and require additional taxpayer support. A copy of the letter is here.

# # #

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First came JPMorgan’s Dimon: No mortgage writedowns, and now from WSJ’s Nick Timiraos

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac aren’t going to be writing down loan balances any time soon unless someone else is willing to pay for it, the head of the firms’ federal regulator said on Thursday.

The Obama administration pressured the firms last fall to use a program that allows homeowners who owe more than their homes are worth to refinance into smaller government-backed loans. Under the program, Fannie and Freddie would have had to take a loss to get rid of the loan.

The Honorable Timothy Geithner Secretary of the Treasury Department of the Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C.

The Honorable Edward DeMarco Director (Acting) Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) 1700 G Street, N.W. 4th Floor Washington, DC 20552

The Honorable Sheila Bair Chairman Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 550 17th Street N.W. Washington D.C., DC 20006

The Honorable Ben S. Bernanke Chairman Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System 20th Street and Constitution Avenue N.W. Washington, DC

The Honorable Mary L. Schapiro Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street, N.E. Washington, DC 20549

The Honorable John Walsh Comptroller of the Currency (Acting) Administrator of National Banks 250 E Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20219

Dear Secretary Geithner, Chairman Bair, Chairman Shapiro, Acting Director DeMarco, Chairman Bernanke and Controller Walsh:

We are writing to urge that any exception to the credit risk retention requirements of section 941 of the Dodd-Frank Act include rigorous requirements for servicing securitized residential mortgages.

The Act requires that securitizers retain five percent of the credit risk on mortgage-backed securities. The requirement is the subject of a study by Christopher M. James published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco dated December 13, 2010, and entitled “Mortgage-Backed Securities: How Important Is ‘Skin in the Game’?”, which finds that the requirement will have the intended effect of reducing “moral hazard” and significantly reducing the loss ratios on mortgage-backed securities.

The Act provides for an exception, however, for “qualified residential mortgages” and for other “exemptions, exceptions, and adjustments” to the risk-retention requirement. We strongly urge that you use great care in allowing any exception to the risk retention requirement, and that you be vigilant in assuring that any exception not defeat the purpose of the requirement. Recent experience in financial regulation has been that seemingly modest, reasonable exceptions have swallowed the rules and allowed abusive practices to continue unabated. In considering any requested exception under section 941, please remember that the advocates for rule-swallowing exceptions to other financial regulation have not been entirely candid with regulators or legislators on the likely effect of those exceptions.

The rules adopted pursuant to section 941 must, of course, require rigorous underwriting standards for “qualified residential mortgages” or any other mortgages excepted from the risk retention requirement, but underwriting requirements are not enough. The rules must also address the servicing of securitized mortgages. Much of the turmoil in the housing market, which is largely responsible for the painfully slow recovery, is the result not just of poorly underwritten mortgages, but of conduct by mortgage servicers.

We direct your attention to the “Open Letter to U.S. Regulators Regarding National Loan Servicing Standards” dated December 21, 2010, and signed by 51 people with extensive knowledge of mortgage servicing (the “Rosner-Whalen letter”). We strongly urge that you consider closely the recommendations included in that letter.

The Rosner-Whalen letter makes sensible recommendations regarding the treatment of payments by homeowners, “perverse incentives” in servicer compensation, mortgage documentation, and foreclosure forbearance during mortgage modification efforts.

We especially urge that any exception require that servicers modify mortgages pursuant to established criteria to avoid foreclosure where possible. The statute governing “Farmer Mac” mortgages provides a useful example of such criteria. See 12 U.S.C. 2202a (“Restructuring Distressed Loans”). Foreclosures are catastrophic for homeowners, holders of mortgage-backed securities, the housing market, and the economy as a whole.

The conduct of servicers is largely responsible for much unnecessary hardship. A requirement that servicers modify mortgage according to established criteria to avoid foreclosure can avoid that hardship in the future. Neutral, established criteria will also avoid “tranche warfare” between classes of investors.

We also especially urge that any rule for securitized mortgages require that servicers not be affiliated with the securitizer. There are obvious potential conflicts of interest, and no apparent countervailing justification. At a recent hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, several witnesses from major servicers were unable to offer any advantage in being affiliated with securitizers, other than to offer “full service” to customers. That justification is entirely unpersuasive. Homeowners may select the bank with which they have a credit card or a checking account, but they have no say in who services their mortgage.

In fact, community banks and credit unions have been reluctant to sell the mortgages that they originate to “private-label securitizers” for fear that the mortgages will be serviced by an affiliate of a bank, and the servicer will use that relationship to “cross market” other banking services to the homeowner. Requiring that servicers be independent of banks, therefore, would advance the goal of increasing the availability of credit on reasonable terms to consumers.

The Dodd-Frank Actives provides you ample authority to reform servicing practices, and regulation of mortgage securitization will be ineffective without such reform.

Sincerely,

Rep. Brad Miller [and others]

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Re: National Standards for Loan Servicing

Dear Colleagues:

We the undersigned write to you regarding the urgent need to develop national standards for originating, selling and servicing mortgage loans. The private residential mortgage securitization market is frozen as to new issuance. The housing market is suffering from a dearth of credit, which is causing a serious lack of confidence among potential homebuyers.

Widely reported servicer fraud, whether in the foreclosure process or in the systematic assessment of illegal fees against homeowners, is also a serious problem. It’s bad for investors, it’s bad for homeowners, and it’s ultimately bad for a sustainable residential mortgage securitization market and the U.S economy. Fraud is also a symptom of the disease affecting our broader financial system, namely the lack of accountability in the loan servicing industry and the resulting impairment of the value of securities sold to investors.

Continue reading below…

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Anyone can see the “Fiction” that was set into place from all the institutions in this article below. Each one of these named parties as a shareholder utilizes Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc., yet Washington never mentions this MERS device.

All this talk of false and misleading loans blah blah blah …I mean grab the bull by it’s nuts and put these criminals behind bars. Not just seek refunds! This clean up should also seek Racketeering Indictments.

Congress Seeks Fannie, Freddie Exit as Banks Eat Soured Loans

By Dawn Kopecki – Sep 15, 2010 1:00 AM ET

U.S. lawmakers will grapple today with how to end the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after two years and almost $150 billion, and who pays the bill for bad loans made during the housing boom.

Regulators who seized control of the two mortgage lenders in 2008 are under pressure to stem losses for taxpayers and recoup money from banks that sold faulty loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — all without hindering the housing market’s recovery. Assistant Treasury Secretary Michael Barr and Edward DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are scheduled to testify today on their progress at the House Financial Services Committee.

The Obama administration and Congress are weighing the future of the two companies as part of an overhaul of the U.S. housing finance system. Fannie Mae, based in Washington, and Freddie Mac, based in McLean, Virginia, lost $166 billion on guarantees of single-family mortgages from the end of 2007 through the second quarter, according to the FHFA. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has promised a comprehensive proposal by early next year.

“The biggest problem in the economy is that we have three or four million too many homes,” said Chris Kotowski, a banking analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. The solution “will take another two or three years to work out until we sop up the excess supply,” Kotowski said.

Loan Clean-Up

The clean-up includes seeking refunds from lenders who sold loans based on false or misleading information, and the two government-backed firms aren’t the only ones demanding buybacks. The Federal Reserve, private mortgage investors and mortgage insurers are combing through loan documents for faulty appraisals, inflated borrower incomes and missing documentation that would support a refund request.

As of the end of the second quarter 2010, Fannie Mae had $4.7 billion in outstanding repurchase requests, and Freddie Mac had $6.4 billion in outstanding repurchase requests. DeMarco said in his prepared testimony that outstanding repurchase requests continue to be “of concern.”

Continue reading…BLOOMBERG

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