Free Republic

The federal government is about to back mortgages of nearly $1 million for the first time. The maximum size of home-mortgage loans eligible for backing by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are expected to jump sharply in 2022, a reflection of the rapid appreciation in home prices nationally over the past year. The increase may make it easier and cheaper for some borrowers to buy a home, particularly in more expensive areas of the country, but the higher limits are also likely to elevate debate about how big of a mortgage is too big to be backed by the government....

A top U.S. regulator is considering taking steps to ease strains on mortgage companies facing a cash crunch as millions of Americans struggling with fallout from the coronavirus suspend their monthly payments, according to people familiar with the matter. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is weighing whether to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage-finance giants, to buy home loans that recently entered forbearance, meaning borrowers have stopped making payments, the people said. That would help nonbank mortgage companies that lend to home buyers and then quickly sell the loans to Fannie and Freddie. The strategy was upended...

The distinguished judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit have considered how much Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the Treasury Department to compensate the taxpayers for the giant bailout which kept Fannie and Freddie in existence and business. The court observed in its September 6 judgment: “The net worth sweep transferred a fortune from Fannie and Freddie to Treasury.” Specifically, “Treasury had disbursed $187 billion and recouped $250 billion.” The “net worth sweep” is the dividend on the senior preferred stock in Fannie and Freddie acquired by the Treasury in the bailout. Originally set...

The gatekeepers of the American mortgage market are increasingly backing loans to borrowers who have heavy debt loads, highlighting questions about mortgage risk as policy makers debate ways to change the system. Almost 30% of loans that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac packaged into bonds last year went to home buyers whose total debt payments amounted to more than 43% of their incomes, according to an analysis by industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance. The share has nearly doubled since 2015. Data on other government mortgage programs also show an increase. The backing of these loans opens up...

Former federal housing agency director Mel Watt, who represented Charlotte in the U.S. Congress for more than two decades, misused his position to pursue a relationship with a woman working for him, according to a formal inquiry by the agency’s Inspector General. Watt was head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which currently oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from 2014 through January when his five-year term expired. Simone Grimes, a special adviser at the agency, claimed that the 73-year-old Watt sexually harassed her and did not promote her when she declined his advances. Grimes also filed a pay discrimination...

A group of Baltimore businesses that sustained damage during the 2015 riots following the death of Freddie Gray is suing the city, alleging officials failed to suppress the riots. The nearly 700-page complaint was filed in Baltimore City Circuit Court in March but only recently removed to U.S. District Court at the request of the defendants.

"An examination of the Treasury Department’s balance sheet for Fiscal Year 2013 documented how the Obama administration diverted billions of dollars into Obamacare that Treasury confiscated from Freddie and Fannie earnings."

When Washington took over the beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the collapse of the housing market and the financial crisis of 2008, it was with the implicit promise that they would be returned to shareholders after being nursed back to health. But now, with the unsealing of documents this week that were produced as part of a lawsuit filed against the government, new evidence is coming to light on how intimately the White House was involved in the Treasury’s decision in August 2012 to keep all the companies’ profits for the government. That move effectively maintained...

The "most transparent administration in history" has spent years trying to hide embarrassing financial secrets from the public ___ It's not quite the Panama papers, but one hell of a big pile of carefully guarded secrets may soon be made public. For years now, the federal government has been quietly fighting to keep a lid on an 11,000-document cache of government communications relating to financial policy. The sheer breadth of the effort to keep this material secret may not have a precedent in modern presidential times. "It's the mother of all privilege logs," explains one lawyer connected with the case....

Baltimore city state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby’s motion for a gag order in the Freddie Gray case was denied Monday because the prosecutor filed paperwork in the wrong court.Mosby’s May 14 motion, filed in Baltimore’s circuit court, was intended to block witnesses, attorneys and police from speaking publicly about the Gray case. Six officers have been indicted on a total of 28 felony charges related to Gray’s April 12 arrest. The 25-year-old Gray died April 19. His death was ruled a homicide.Judge Charles Peters slapped down Mosby’s motion, citing jurisdictional issues, The Baltimore Sun reported. The cases for the six...

It wasn't greed that caused the mortgage mess. In large part, the mess was the product of government policies designed to increase home ownership among the poor and ethnic minorities. Today Peter Wallison points out how Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHA created a demand for bad mortgages that encouraged mortgage brokers to generate millions of them. From the Wall Street Journal: Mortgage brokers had to be able to sell their mortgages to someone. They could only produce what those above them in the distribution chain wanted to buy. In other words, they could only respond to demand, not...

(RNN) - All six officers charged for the death of Freddie Gray have been indicted by a grand jury. "As our investigation has continued, additional info has been discovered, and, as is often the case, additional charges can be added," Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby said during a press conference in Baltimore.

Baltimore police have continually said their initial reasoning for suspecting Freddie Gray of suspicious activity was his immediate running from police when bicycle officers made eye contact. However, no-one has revealed he ran into a building. State Attorney Marilyn Mosby referenced the chase in her charging details: Mosby Said: “On April, 12 2015 between 8:45 and 9:15 a.m., near the corner of North Avenue and Mount Street. Lt. Brian Rice of the Baltimore Police Department while on bike patrol with Officer Garrett Miller and Edward Nero made eye contact with Freddie Carlos Gray Jr.” “Having made eye contact with Mr....

Last Friday, while Prosecutor Mosby was announcing her poorly supported tsunami of charges against the six police officers involved in arresting and transporting the ill-fated Freddie Gray, Mosby also remarked that Gray’s knife–claimed by police to be the probable cause for his arrest–was in fact lawful under Maryland law.As reported by the New York Times:Ms. Mosby faulted the police conduct at every turn. The officers who arrested him “failed to establish probable cause for Mr. Gray’s arrest, as no crime had been committed,” she said, describing the arrest as illegal. Officers accused him of possession of a switchblade, but Ms....

Hannity talking with anonymous cop making breaking news. Cop says Freddy tested positive for drugs, including heroin, thus supporting story by cops and the other criminal in the van that Freddy was trying to cause harm to himself. The drugs would certainly make it easier for him to do it. Cop also says they were explicitly told not to confront looters and robbers "direct from commander."

BALTIMORE (WJZ ) — From the beginning, the investigation into what killed Freddie Gray has centered on what happened inside the police transport van. We knew there was another prisoner inside the van and tonight we hear from him. WJZ‘s Mike Schuh is the first to speak with Donta Allen about what he heard.

An investigation has concluded Freddie Gray broke his neck after falling head-first into the back of the police van as it was moving, it was reported today. The news comes hours after Baltimore Police admitted the van transporting Gray made a previously unreported stop (pictured, left). The mysterious detail was picked up by a privately-owned security camera, and will be integral to the police investigation into Gray's death. Medical and law enforcement sources briefed on the police investigation told ABC News Gray's 'catastrophic' head injuries were consistent with hitting a bolt 'in the back door of the van'. They claimed...

An investigation into the death of Baltimore resident Freddie Gray has found no evidence that his fatal injuries were caused during the videotaped arrest and interaction with police officers, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

In 2008, the nation entered into a financial crisis widely believed to have been caused by excesses in the residential mortgage industry. By 2010, the nation thought it had put in place a series of measures that not only would resolve the crisis but would insure that it never happened again. Yet, here we are in 2015 looking at another potential mortgage crisis. Only this time it is different. In 2008, funds flowed in waves into the mortgage industry. In 2015, it appears the funds are drying up. The solutions to the problem in 2010 and thereafter included: Suing and...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Some Americans will soon be able to buy a home with a down payment as low as 3 percent, compared with the current minimum of 5 percent, the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac say. The new lending guidelines announced by the companies Monday are designed to help more low-income and first-time buyers afford homes. Millions of Americans lost their savings or no longer had the income needed to set aside money for a home in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession. That has held down the sales of houses and...