How can fannie mae help me

Fannie Mae now offers a number of different business initiatives and credit options to homeowners, working with lenders to help people who may otherwise have difficulties obtaining financing. A full list of products and their descriptions are available on Fannie Mae's website.

Following the mortgage meltdown, Fannie Mae began to focus on loan modifications. Modifications can include a lower interest rate or extend the term of the loan. Loan modification can also lower monthly payments. Fannie Mae has managed to turn itself around since being on the brink in Today it is the largest backer of year fixed-rate mortgages and remains a key mechanism for facilitating homeownership. Government Accountability Office. Accessed May 7, Federal Reserve Bank of St.

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Fannie Mae's Early Days. Creating Liquidity. Mortgage-Backed Securities. The Financial Crisis. Government Takeover and Bailout. Implement critical reforms that will produce a stronger and more resilient housing finance system.

FHFA experts provide reliable data, including all states, about activity in the U. Meet the experts Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created by Congress. They provide liquidity ready access to funds on reasonable terms to the thousands of banks, savings and loans, and mortgage companies that make loans to finance housing.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy mortgages from lenders and either hold these mortgages in their portfolios or package the loans into mortgage-backed securities MBS that may be sold. Lenders use the cash raised by selling mortgages to the Enterprises to engage in further lending.

By packaging mortgages into MBS and guaranteeing the timely payment of principal and interest on the underlying mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac attract to the secondary mortgage market investors who might not otherwise invest in mortgages, thereby expanding the pool of funds available for housing. While the worst of the crisis appears to be over, Fannie and Freddie are a long way from repaying their debt.

Meanwhile, as the government continues to play a central role in the day-to-day operations of Fannie and Freddie, the continued uncertainty has led many key staff to leave and has caused an underinvestment in necessary infrastructure and systems.

With the federal government backing nearly every home loan made in the country today, almost everyone agrees that the current level of support is unsustainable in the long run, and private capital will eventually have to assume more risk in the mortgage market. That leaves two critical questions before policymakers today: What sort of presence should the federal government have in the future housing market, and how do we transition responsibly to this new system of housing finance?

Since the conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie began, dozens of advocacy groups, academics, and industry stakeholders have offered possible answers to these questions. The overwhelming majority of these suggested plans agree that some form of government support is necessary to ensure a stable housing market and to maintain the year fixed-rate mortgage. In January the Mortgage Finance Working Group—a progressive group of housing finance experts, affordable housing advocates, and leading academics sponsored by the Center for American Progress—released its plan for responsibly winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and bringing private capital back into the U.

Our proposal includes an explicit government backstop on certain mortgage products, requirements that private firms serve the whole market, and an empowered regulator to ensure the sustainability and affordability of mortgage products.

The plan also lays out five guiding principles for any reform effort:. Many conservative analysts and politicians—resorting to heated rhetoric and mistruths about the origins of the crisis—argue that we need a fully private mortgage market run by Wall Street. It was the fully private segment of the market, however, that caused millions of foreclosures and brought down the entire financial system.

If we draw the wrong lesson from the financial crisis and abruptly withdraw the government from mortgage finance, it will lead to a sharp reduction in the availability of home loans, cutting off access to mortgage finance for the middle class.

History is a helpful guide here. Prior to the introduction of the government guarantee on residential mortgages in the s, mortgages typically had 50 percent down-payment requirements, short durations, and high interest rates—putting homeownership out of reach for many middle-class families. The housing finance system was subject to frequent panics during which depositors demanded cash from their banks, leaving lenders insolvent. That volatility is one reason why every other developed economy in the world has deep levels of government support for residential mortgage finance.

In addition, abruptly removing government support would almost certainly mean the end of the year fixed-rate mortgage, now a pillar of the U. Middle-class families for decades have depended on the security and affordability of this product, which allows borrowers to fix their housing costs and better plan for their futures in an ever more volatile economy.

Most experts agree that this highly beneficial product would largely disappear without a government guarantee.

But as policymakers look to the future of U. The federal government must continue to play a key role in the housing market, regardless of whether it works through Fannie and Freddie, a new agency, or purely private firms. Colin Seeberger Director, Media Relations.

Peter Gordon Director, Government Affairs. Madeline Shepherd Director, Government Affairs.