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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110224/...rns_fannie_mae
http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-...24-722009.html
Simply disgusting.
WASHINGTON – Government-controlled mortgage buyer Fannie Mae has posted a narrower loss of $2.1 billion for the October-December quarter of last year, and asked for an additional $2.6 billion in federal aid.
The new request is slightly more than the $2.5 billion it sought in the July-September quarter. The mortgage buyer also reported a $21.7 billion loss for all of 2010.
The government rescued Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac in September 2008 to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. It estimates the bailouts will cost taxpayers as much as $259 billion.
Fannie Mae's October-December loss attributable to common stockholders works out to 37 cents a share. It takes into account $2.2 billion in dividend payments to the government. It compares with a loss of $16.3 billion, or $2.87 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Washington-based Fannie Mae and McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of all mortgages in the U.S., or nearly 31 million home loans worth more than $5 trillion. Along with other federal agencies, they played some part in almost 90 percent of new mortgages over the past year.
Fannie and Freddie buy home loans from banks and other lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and sell them to investors around the world.
The government's estimated cost of bailing out the mortgage giants far exceeds the $132.7 billion they have received from taxpayers so far. That would make theirs the costliest bailout of the financial crisis.
The two have been hit by massive losses on risky mortgages purchased from 2005 through 2008. The companies have tightened their lending standards after those loans started to go bad. Default rates on new loans are far lower.
The Obama administration unveiled a plan earlier this month to slowly dissolve the two mortgage giants. The aim is to shrink the government's role in the mortgage system. The proposal would remake decades of federal policy aimed at getting Americans to buy homes and probably would make home loans more expensive.
Exactly how far the government's role in mortgages would be reduced was left to Congress to decide. But all three options the administration presented would create a housing finance system that relies far more on private money.
The new request is slightly more than the $2.5 billion it sought in the July-September quarter. The mortgage buyer also reported a $21.7 billion loss for all of 2010.
The government rescued Fannie Mae and sibling company Freddie Mac in September 2008 to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. It estimates the bailouts will cost taxpayers as much as $259 billion.
Fannie Mae's October-December loss attributable to common stockholders works out to 37 cents a share. It takes into account $2.2 billion in dividend payments to the government. It compares with a loss of $16.3 billion, or $2.87 a share, in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Washington-based Fannie Mae and McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of all mortgages in the U.S., or nearly 31 million home loans worth more than $5 trillion. Along with other federal agencies, they played some part in almost 90 percent of new mortgages over the past year.
Fannie and Freddie buy home loans from banks and other lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and sell them to investors around the world.
The government's estimated cost of bailing out the mortgage giants far exceeds the $132.7 billion they have received from taxpayers so far. That would make theirs the costliest bailout of the financial crisis.
The two have been hit by massive losses on risky mortgages purchased from 2005 through 2008. The companies have tightened their lending standards after those loans started to go bad. Default rates on new loans are far lower.
The Obama administration unveiled a plan earlier this month to slowly dissolve the two mortgage giants. The aim is to shrink the government's role in the mortgage system. The proposal would remake decades of federal policy aimed at getting Americans to buy homes and probably would make home loans more expensive.
Exactly how far the government's role in mortgages would be reduced was left to Congress to decide. But all three options the administration presented would create a housing finance system that relies far more on private money.
Fannie Mae (FNMA) swung to a small fourth-quarter profit--ending a streak of 13 consecutive quarterly losses--as the mortgage-finance giant sharply reduced its credit-related provisions.
Fannie, which along with sister company Freddie Mac (FMCC), was placed under convervatorship in 2008 to prevent potential implosions at the height of the credit crisis. Freddie and Fannie's shares began trading on the over-the-counter market in July after the company's federal regulator ordered them to delist from the New York Stock Exchange after the company's shares failed to meet listing standards.
The rate of serious delinquencies--loans at least three months past due or awaiting foreclosure--fell to 4.48% from 4.56% in the third quarter and from 5.38% a year ago.
Fannie's provision for credit losses and foreclosed property expenses dropped to $4.3 billion from $5.56 billion in the third quarter and $11.9 billion a year ago.
Fannie posted a profit of $73 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $15.2 billion. Including preferred-dividend payments to the Treasury Department, the loss would have narrowed to 37 cents a share from $2.87 a share. Net revenue declined 15% to $4.89 billion.
Meanwhile, Fannie said to eliminate a $2.5 billion deficit as of Dec. 31, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has requested on Fannie's behalf from Treasury, boosting the company's total obligation to the government for its senior preferred stock to $91.2 billion. Overall, Fannie has paid $10.2 billion in dividends to the Treasury since its senior preferred stock was issued, including $7.7 billion last year.
Earlier Thursday, Freddie Mac posted a $113 million fourth-quarter loss, narrowing sharply from a year-earlier period that had been weighed down by hefty charges, while the company also saw credit-loss provisions slide.
Fannie, which along with sister company Freddie Mac (FMCC), was placed under convervatorship in 2008 to prevent potential implosions at the height of the credit crisis. Freddie and Fannie's shares began trading on the over-the-counter market in July after the company's federal regulator ordered them to delist from the New York Stock Exchange after the company's shares failed to meet listing standards.
The rate of serious delinquencies--loans at least three months past due or awaiting foreclosure--fell to 4.48% from 4.56% in the third quarter and from 5.38% a year ago.
Fannie's provision for credit losses and foreclosed property expenses dropped to $4.3 billion from $5.56 billion in the third quarter and $11.9 billion a year ago.
Fannie posted a profit of $73 million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $15.2 billion. Including preferred-dividend payments to the Treasury Department, the loss would have narrowed to 37 cents a share from $2.87 a share. Net revenue declined 15% to $4.89 billion.
Meanwhile, Fannie said to eliminate a $2.5 billion deficit as of Dec. 31, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has requested on Fannie's behalf from Treasury, boosting the company's total obligation to the government for its senior preferred stock to $91.2 billion. Overall, Fannie has paid $10.2 billion in dividends to the Treasury since its senior preferred stock was issued, including $7.7 billion last year.
Earlier Thursday, Freddie Mac posted a $113 million fourth-quarter loss, narrowing sharply from a year-earlier period that had been weighed down by hefty charges, while the company also saw credit-loss provisions slide.