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Economy
In reply to the discussion: STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 30 January 2012 [View all]DemReadingDU
(16,000 posts)19. Freddie Mac Betting Against Struggling Homeowners
1/30/12 Freddie Mac Betting Against Struggling Homeowners
Freddie Mac, a taxpayer-owned mortgage company, is supposed to make homeownership easier. One thing that makes owning a home more affordable is getting a cheaper mortgage.
But Freddie Mac has invested billions of dollars betting that U.S. homeowners won't be able to refinance their mortgages at today's lower rates, according to an investigation by NPR and ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom.
These investments, while legal, raise concerns about a conflict of interest within Freddie Mac.
"We were actually shocked they did this," says Scott Simon, who heads the mortgage-backed securities team at the giant bond trading and investment firm called PIMCO. "It seemed so out of line with their mission, out of line with what Congress wanted them to do."
Freddie Mac, formally called the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, was chartered by Congress in 1970. On its website, it says it has "a public mission to stabilize the nation's residential mortgage markets and expand opportunities for homeownership." The company is owned by U.S. taxpayers and overseen by a regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
In December, Freddie's chief executive Charles Haldeman assured Congress his company is "helping financially strapped families reduce their mortgage costs through refinancing their mortgages."
But public documents show that in 2010 and 2011, Freddie Mac set out to make gains for its own investment portfolio by using complex mortgage securities that brought in more money for Freddie Mac when homeowners in higher interest-rate loans were unable to qualify for a refinancing.
Those trades "put them squarely against the homeowner," PIMCO's Simon says.
more...
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/30/145995636/freddie-mac-betting-against-struggling-homeowners
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