Order Code RS22916
July 15, 2008
Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s Financial
Problems: Frequently Asked Questions
N. Eric Weiss
Specialist in Financial Economics
Government & Finance Division
Summary
Recent turmoil in the housing and financial markets have caused concern over the
future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are chartered by Congress as government-
sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and are widely believed to have an implicit guarantee
from the federal government. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulsen, Jr. has proposed
legislation to increase the two GSEs’ line of credit with Treasury from its current $2.25
billion each to an unspecified higher amount and to allow Treasury to purchase stock
from Fannie and Freddie. The Federal Reserve has taken actions to allow Fannie and
Freddie to borrow directly from the Fed.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) — the GSEs safety
and soundness regulator — has repeated assurances that Fannie and Freddie have
adequate capital, but as highly leveraged financial intermediaries Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac have limited resources against losses.
This report will be updated as warranted.
Why are Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s stock prices declining so
much? Recent increases in the evaluation of the risks that the Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac face in terms of future profitability and even continued financial viability may have
combined to reduce the price that investors are willing to pay for a share of the
enterprises.1
Fannie and Freddie are government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) whose charters
limit them to buying single family and multifamily home mortgages originated by others.
This lack of diversification makes them more exposed to housing and mortgage market
problems than other financial institutions such as commercial banks that have other lines
1 James R. Hagerty, Deborah Solomon and Sudeep Reddy, “Treasury and Fed Pledge Aid for
Ailing Mortgage Giants” Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2008, p. A1; also James R. Hagerty,
Deborah Solomon and Sudeep Reddy, “Mortgage Giants Face Pressure Over Capital” Wall Street
Journal, July 11, 2008, p. A1.
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of business. The GSEs have a special relationship with the federal government —
sometimes called an implicit guarantee — that has allowed them to borrow at interest
rates only slightly above those paid by the federal government.
The two GSEs are very highly leveraged versions of banks — they borrow money
to lend, and they maximize profits by keeping their capital reserves close to the minimum
necessary and permitted by their regulators. Unlike banks, they can only purchase home
mortgages that others have made. Like banks, the GSEs are required by law and by their
regulators to maintain a certain ratio between their loans and reserves to protect against
loan losses. A key component of reserves is shareholders’ equity or the current value of
the shareholders’ investments.
What risks do Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac face in today’s economic
environment? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have traditionally kept some of their
mortgages in their investment portfolios and packaged others for sale as mortgage-backed
securities (MBS). The GSEs guarantee timely payment of principal and interest of the
mortgages in their MBS. The GSEs finance their portfolios of long-term (typically 30
year) mortgages with short-term borrowing (typically three months to five years). This
increases the GSEs’ profits because short-term borrowing is usually less expensive than
longer term loans. This creates interest rate risk, which is the risk is that if short-term
interest rates increase, profitability can be reduced or can even turn to losses. To try to
reduce these risks, the GSEs use a variety of financial derivatives.
In a worst case scenario, the interest rate on short-term loans to the GSEs could
increase enough to cause substantial losses and investors could stop entering into
derivative contracts with the GSEs. This would leave the GSEs, who anticipated being
able to roll over their short term debt, unable to refinance.
What are some possible market-based solutions? One part of a market-
based solution for this would be for the GSEs to sell part of their mortgage portfolios to
pay off their debts. But fears over default risk have reduced the market value of these
existing mortgages. Fannie Mae’s portfolio has relatively high credit quality overall, but
OFHEO has called into question the credit quality of Freddie Mac.2 The GSEs use
derivatives to reduce, but not eliminate, default risk.
Another part of a market-based solution is for the GSEs to sell stock and to use the
proceeds to finance their mortgage portfolios and to increase existing reserves to cover
any losses. From the point of view of current holders of GSE stock (including senior
management), this slices the pie that represents the value of each GSE into more pieces
without making the pie any larger, diluting the value of the shares of existing
stockholders.
What risks do Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac create for the U.S.
government? In addition to the implicit guarantee, which all GSE debt is required by
law to explicitly deny, some argue that the GSEs are too big and too interconnected to be
allowed to fail. The argument is that because of their size and activity in various financial
2 Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Report to Congress: 2008, p. 20 and 34,
available at [http://www.ofheo.gov/media/annualreports/ReporttoCongress2008.pdf].
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markets, if the GSEs were to be unable to borrow and enter into various derivative
contracts, no one could. Another way to view this is that if in fact the GSEs carry little
risk because of their government connections, then their financial market difficulties
would suggest that much broader difficulties are being experienced by some other
financial institutions lacking these government connections.
If the government were to lend money to the GSEs, there would be the risk that one
or both GSEs would be unable to repay the loan. This risk could be reduced by requiring
collateral in the form of assets or stock, but the value of the collateral could decline.3
Another risk is that the Treasury might not charge the GSEs a high enough interest rate
to cover Treasury’s costs.
What risks do Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s financial problems
create for homeowners and those planning to become homeowners? Fannie
Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s financial problems create no risks for homeowners who want
stay in their homes and who do not want to refinance. Homeowners would continue to
pay their existing mortgages the same way as they do today.
There could be problems for those wishing to refinance, buy, or sell a home. In
2007, the GSEs financed 91.3% of the conforming mortgage market.4 In the current
financial environment, if the GSEs were unable to buy mortgages from originators, it is
not clear that other investors such as commercial banks would step into the secondary
mortgage market.
This could raise credit requirements and interest rates for anyone who wanted to
refinance, take out a second mortgage, or get a home equity line of credit. Subprime and
Alt-A borrowers might wish to refinance to obtain lower interest rates in the conventional
market; others might wish to tap their home equity to pay for home improvements,
college, or medical expenses. It could affect those who want to sell their homes because
purchasers would have a more difficult time obtaining a mortgage and could pay a higher
interest rate. The amount of this interest rate increase is difficult to predict.
The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 raised the loan limit for Federal Housing
Administration guaranteed loans in most high cost areas of the nation to the same
maximum that the GSEs are permitted to purchase.5 As a result, FHA-guaranteed loans
in theory can replace most conventional loans.
What is Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s financial position? The Office
of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), which is Fannie Mae’s and Freddie
Mac’s safety and soundness regulator, has repeatedly said that the GSEs have adequate
3 The government has received stock in previous market interventions and has sometimes
returned a small profit. See CRS Report RL34423, Government Interventions in Financial
Markets: Economic and Historic Analysis of Subprime Mortgage Options, by N. Eric Weiss.
4 The 2008 Mortgage Market Statistical Annual, Volume II (Bethesda, MD: Inside Mortgage
Finance Publications, 2008), pp. 3, 9.
5 P.L. 110-185, 122 Stat. 613 et seq.
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capital.6 In other words, according to OFHEO, the GSEs have sufficient funds to survive
their current financial difficulties.
This is difficult to verify independently. Details of the GSEs’ portfolios and
guarantees are confidential proprietary information. In broad terms, the GSEs purchased
slightly more than $169 billion of private label subprime MBS in 2006 and 2007; they
purchased slightly less than $58 billion of Alt-A MBS in the same time period compared
with a combined balance sheet of $1.677 trillion.7 At the end of 2007, the subprime and
Alt-A MBS represented 13.5% of the GSEs’ total assets.
In 2007, the two GSEs reported losses of just under $5.2 billion. Prior to 2007, the
GSEs had not reported a combined loss since 1982.8 To make certain that the GSEs have
adequate funds to cover potential losses, OFHEO (like all financial regulators) imposes
capital requirements. At the end of 2007, the two GSEs had a $24.8 billion surplus over
the regulatory capital requirement of $58.4 billion; they had a surplus of $50.8 billion
over the risk-based capital requirement of $38.8 billion.9 These amounts can be compared
with the combined retained mortgages portfolios of $1.434 trillion and the $3.501 trillion
in MBS that the GSEs guaranteed for a total of $4.934 trillion.10
The regulatory capital surplus amounted to 0.50% of the $4.934 trillion and 1.03%
of the risk-based capital surplus. If the GSEs were to face losses in excess of their income
by these percentages, they would be forced to either reduce their capital requirements by
selling mortgages and MBS from their portfolios or to raise new capital from investors.
The GSEs hold subprime and Alt-A MBS that are far in excess of their surplus capital.
OFHEO reports that the credit quality of the GSEs mortgage portfolios declined in
2007.11
What are some things that Congress might consider to improve the
financial condition of the GSEs? Congress has previously acted to assist GSEs that
were in financial difficulty. When Fannie Mae was losing significant amounts of money
in 1982, Congress passed the Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1982 that provided some tax
benefits for Fannie Mae.12 The Farm Credit System, another GSE, was aided with the
6 OFHEO, Statement of OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart, July 10, 2008, available at
[http://www.ofheo.gov/newsroom.aspx?ID=440&q1=1&q2=None].
7 OFHEO, p. 113 and 116. Subprime and Alt-A MBS purchases prior to 2006 are not available.
Alt-A mortgages are mortgages taken out by borrowers with good credit who decide not to
provide documentation on income, assets, and/or property value.
8 OFHEO, p. 115.
9 OFHEO, p. 120.
10 OFHEO, p. 116.
11 OFHEO, p. 20-21, 33-34.
12 P.L. 97-362, 96 Stat. 1726 et seq.
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Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, which authorized the issuance of $4 billion in bonds to
support system members.13
Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., has proposed legislation that would
increase the Treasury’s authority to lend the GSEs, from the current level of $2.25 billion
each to an unspecified amount and would authorize the Treasury to purchase GSE stock.14
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors on Sunday, July 13, 2008, granted the New
York Fed the authority to lend directly to the GSEs.15 Part of the Treasury plan would
have the Fed assist OFHEO in setting capital requirements for the GSEs. Media reports
cite Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial
Services, as saying that Congress could pass this legislation the week of July 14.16
The Administration has urged Congress to pass legislation to reform the regulation
of the GSEs; the details of that legislation is quite controversial.17
What are some actions that the federal government can do to address
the financial condition of the GSEs? Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the OFHEO,
and the President currently have the power to take certain actions. The Secretary of the
Treasury is authorized to lend the GSEs $2.25 billion each, but this is more a symbolic
amount than a total solution. Based on Fannie Mae’s issuance of $1.588 trillion in short
term debt in 2007, the $2.25 billion would have lasted less than 12.5 hours. Based on the
$598.6 billion issued of short term debt that Freddie Mac issued in 2007, the $2.25 billion
would have lasted just under 33 hours.18
In addition to the Federal Reserve’s general authority to be a lender of last resort, the
GSEs’ charters give the GSEs a special relationship to the nation’s central bank.19 The
Federal Reserve can use the GSEs’ bonds purchased on the secondary market for open
market operations.20 This could indirectly help the GSEs by adding to the demand for
their debt.
13 P.L. 100-233, 101 Stat. 1568 et seq.
14 U.S. Department of Treasury, Statement of Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Paulson Announces GSE
Initiatives, July 12, 2008, available at [http://www.treasury.gov/press/releases/hp1079.htm].
15 Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Press Release, July 13, 2008, available at
[http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/20080713a.htm].
16 James R. Hagerty, Deborah Solomon and Sudeep Reddy, “Treasury and Fed Pledge Aid for
Ailing Mortgage Giants” Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2008, p. A1, available at
[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121597057216549037.html].
17 Executive Office of the President, “House Amendments to Senate Amendment to H.R. 3221
— Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008,” Statement of Administration Policy, May 2, 2008,
available at [http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/legislative/sap/110-2/saphr3221-r.pdf].
18 Freddie Mac, Debt Issuance by Trade Date, available at [http://www.freddiemac.com/debt/
data/cgi-bin/debtissuance.cgi?order=TD].
19 The Fed’s lender of last resort authority is delineated at 12 U.S.C. 343. Fannie Mae’s charter
is at 12 U.S.C. 1716b et seq; Freddie Mac’s charter is at 12 U.S.C. 1401.
20 12 USC 347c.
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OFHEO has general safety and soundness authority over the GSEs, including the
ability to require, approve, monitor, and enforce remediation plans if the GSEs are found
to be undercapitalized.21 In an extreme case, OFHEO could appoint a conservator who
would assume the powers of the shareholders, directors and officers of the corporation.22
The speed with which OFHEO could take these actions would in part depend on the
GSEs. The GSEs have the right to contest any of these actions, and the law sets out
various periods of time for the GSEs to review proposed actions, to contest OFHEO’s
actions, and in some instances to appeal to the courts.23
The President can appoint five of the 18 members of each of these GSE’s board of
directors.24 President George W. Bush has chosen not to appoint any.25 By law, at least
one director would come from the homebuilding industry, at least one from the real estate
industry, at least one from the mortgage industry, and at least one would have community-
based low-income housing experience.26 It could be argued that this expertise might be
helpful to the boards.
The federal government could improve GSE liquidity by lending to the enterprises
from either the Treasury or the Federal Reserve. The government could purchase GSE
stock to improve the GSEs’ solvency by boosting capital and thereby increasing reserves
against losses on their mortgage portfolios and mortgage guarantees; this option would
require new legislation.
Who invests in the GSEs? There is little information available about who holds
GSE stock, bonds, and MBS. The Fed reports statistics for combined ownership of
government agency and GSE debt and GSE MBS. At the end of 2007, non-United States
investors held $1.479 trillion of $7.397 trillion. Other large investors were U.S.
commercial banks ($929 billion), life insurance companies ($388 billion), state and local
government retirement funds ($317 billion), mutual funds ($566 billion), asset-backed
securities issuers ($378 billion), and the GSEs themselves ($710 billion).27
21 12 U.S.C. 4611 et seq.
22 12 U.S.C. 4620.
23 12 U.S.C. 4617 and 4623.
24 12 U.S.C. 1723(b) and 12 U.S.C. 1452(a)(2)(A).
25 “Freddie Sets June 8 as Meeting Date,” National Mortgage News, February 12, 2007, p. 6.
26 12 U.S.C. 1452(a)(2)(A) and 12 U.S.C. 1723(b).
27 Federal Reserve, Flow of Funds Accounts of the United States, June 2008, p. 88, available at
[http://federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/Current/z1.pdf].