Fannie Mae

Montgomery County on Monday filed a federal class action lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alleging the mortgage finance firms wrongly avoided paying transfer taxes in Maryland. In some instances, the companies have said they are exempt from the taxes (required to record documents, including deeds, at land records offices throughout the state) "because they are governmental entities or agencies," according to the county's complaint. But that's not true, claims the county.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and nine other attorneys general sent a letter Monday to President Obama and the U.S. Senate's leaders demanding new management at the government entity that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The housing finance firms, which have been controlled by the federal government since 2008, have become an “obstruction” to economic recovery, said the letter signed by Gansler and the attorneys general of...

The Fannie Mae Baltimore Partnership office has moved to the Suntrust Bank Building, 120 E. Baltimore St., Suite 1710, Baltimore, 21201. The phone number remains 410-659-1205.

Montgomery County on Monday filed a federal class action lawsuit against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alleging the mortgage finance firms wrongly avoided paying transfer taxes in Maryland. In some instances, the companies have said they are exempt from the taxes (required to record documents, including deeds, at land records offices throughout the state) "because they are governmental entities or agencies," according to the county's complaint. But that's not true, claims the county.

On December 20, 2003, FANNIE MAE JACKSON. Friends may call at the Family Owned MARCH FUNERAL HOME EAST, 1101 East North Avenue, on Thursday after 9 A. M where the family will receive friends on Friday at 11:30 A.M. Services will follow at 12 noon. See www.marchfh.com.

WASHINGTON -- The House passed legislation yesterday creating a stronger regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that falls short of constraints that the Bush administration sought to impose on the companies' combined $1.4 trillion in mortgage assets. The bill passed 313-104. The legislation gives a new regulator the power to alter reserve requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sell their assets in the event of default, bar them from new lines of business and force a reduction in the companies' mortgage assets when the portfolios threaten the soundness of the companies.

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration disclosed yesterday the details of its plan for a significant increase in the supervision of the government-sponsored companies that help finance home purchases, higher education and agriculture."

BOULDER, Colo. -- It's no secret: Home mortgages are cheap. You can now find 30-year, fixed-rate loans as low as 7 3/4 percent. And if you are really diligent, you can go even lower, down to 5 percent or 5 1/2 percent, by taking out an adjustable rate mortgage.In the rush to refinance out of double-digit mortgages, most homeowners choose fixed terms. But for some borrowers, ARMs are an attractive alternative. The catch is to not use such a loan to buy more house than you can afford. The Federal National Mortgage Association, the nation's largest supplier of mortgage money, wants to make sure you don't.

IF YOU wind up on the bad side of both Ralph Nader and Alan Greenspan, you must be doing something wrong. Mortgage financier Fannie Mae has accomplished it: bipartisan fear and loathing. For Democrats, Fannie Mae is a showcase of obscene executive salaries and massive corporate welfare that fails in its duty to spread homeownership as widely as possible among Americans of little means. For Republicans, Fannie represents patronage politics, government intrusion into the marketplace and the socialization of American home finance.

WASHINGTON -- A report to Congress raised questions yesterday about whether the government should continue to provide financial benefits to two private companies established by the government to make mortgages more readily available to low- and middle-income homebuyers.The report by the Congressional Budget Office is certain to intensify a long-running debate over whether the companies, known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, should retain an implicit government guarantee of the debt securities they issue in purchasing home mortgages from lenders and selling them to investors.

Housing experts say homeowners can wait as long as nine months to get approval to sell their home as a short sale, and efforts are underway to push lenders to give a prompt answer. HouseLogic says homebuyers may find themselves in the position of having to send multiple requests to their lender to ask for approval for them to sell their house for less than they owe while a potential buyer waits in the wings. HouseLogic, a service offered by the National Association of Realtors, provides information on homeownership, such as taxes and insurance.

Internal Fannie Mae documents show the mortgage financier was about to launch a principal reduction program in 2010 after determining that it would save taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, a Baltimore congressman says -- contradicting claims by Fannie's regulator that such a move would be costly. U.S. Reps. Elijah E. Cummings of Baltimore and John F. Tierney of Massachusetts, Democrats who sit on the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, sent a joint letter Tuesday to regulator Edward DeMarco demanding more information about why the program was "mysteriously terminated" in July 2010.

In its editorials and Dan Rodricks columns, The Sun continues to emphasize and underscore the big lie that banks or "predatory lenders" were the cause of the housing crash ("What took so long?" Jan. 26). "Predatory lending" is a term of relatively recent vintage, since prior generations tended to hold individuals responsible for the greed and ignorance that drove irresponsible decision-making. Far better to investigate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Rep. Barney Frank for creating a bubble based on the idea that everyone should own a home.

In 2009, President Barack Obama lifted the $400 billion cap off the bailout money that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae could pass on to the taxpayers. Apparently, $400 billion wasn't enough. Fannie and Freddie are publicly owned. You and I own them and all the debt they are accumulating and passing on. At times, the administration has allowed companies like Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to "buy their losses," a process by which a company gets to reduce their tax burden by giving cash in exchange for the bad debt.

The federal agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to stop abuses by the mortgage giants' network of foreclosure attorneys for years before problems surfaced in news accounts, according to a report released Tuesday. The inspector general for the Federal Housing Finance Agency looked into the agency's oversight of foreclosure attorneys for the mortgage financiers after Rep. Elijah E. Cummings in February sought an investigation of alleged abuses. The mortgage companies, which buy loans and mortgage securities, are regulated by the FHFA.

Have I got this right? The government, i.e. the taxpayer, is coughing up millions of dollars of borrowed money, paying over 40 percent more to rehab houses, and renting them for less than $500 a month, including utilities ("Is this house worth 475K?" June 19). At the same time they are selling some for just $75,000 to people who probably won't be able to afford the mortgage, eventually leaving the bad loan to a bankrupt Fannie Mae orFreddie Mac. And now the government wants to expand its involvement in the health care business?

U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings is asking the agency overseeing Fannie Mae why the mortgage financier is letting an embattled law firm handle its Maryland foreclosures despite problems documented by sister company Freddie Mac. The Baltimore Democrat — in a letter to the Federal Housing Finance Agency late Wednesday — says information the regulator provided him in May about the Shapiro & Burson law firm "reveals a much more egregious level of...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been the underpinnings of American homeownership for decades, but now, thanks to their role in the collapse of the housing market, they are being targeted for massive reform or elimination. But as leaders in Congress and the Obama administration establish and pursue new policies to guide the housing finance system, it is critical that they preserve the historic and successful — though less well known — mandate of Fannie and Freddie to promote affordable rental housing for moderate and low-income households across the country, a population that is hit hardest by downturns such as the one currently battering our economy.