Freddie CEO wary of more subprime loans - NYT

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The head of Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the biggest U.S. mortgage finance companies, dismissed suggestions that his company should step in to bolster sagging financial markets by buying distressed loans, the New York Times reported on Saturday.

Freddie Mac chief executive Richard Syron said he was wary of calls for Freddie Mac and fellow mortgage finance company Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) to buy loans and securities no longer favored by private investors, the Times said.

With credit pools drying up "there are some loans that are in difficulty," the Times quoted Syron as saying in a telephone interview.

"There are other loans that probably should never have been made and providing more liquidity will make that situation worse in the long term," Syron told the Times.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0436371920070804

[A HERETIC I AM]

1. Smart move. n/t

[NashVegas]

2. The Hubris of Speculators

Richard F. Syron, chief executive of Freddie Mac, the large buyer of mortgages created by Congress in the 1970s, said yesterday that the speed and severity of the tighter credit terms are surprising, but perhaps necessary given the excesses in the market in recent years.

In a telephone interview from Washington, he was wary of the calls by some mortgage industry officials that Freddie Mac and its cousin, Fannie Mae, step in to buy loans and securities that private investors will no longer purchase. Mr. Syron noted that his company was operating under an agreement with its regulator that limited the size of its portfolio.

That was in this morning's NYT.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/business/04stox.html

Three - four years ago, privateers were dying to get rid of Freddie & Fannie, now they'll looking for a bailout.

[UpInArms]

3. you say:

Three - four years ago, privateers were dying to get rid of Freddie & Fannie, now they'll looking for a bailout.

they just want the taxpayer to bail it all out once again.

this time, it may take us all under

:(

[WCGreen]

5. Privitize the benifits and socialize the costs...

Yep, that's the way these freeloading freemarketeers approach the financial world...

[youngdem]

7. See, now you're thinking like a Bush-o-Reagan-omic

[quiet.american]

4. It's just a matter of time that the announcement is made that the gub'ment will bail them out.

With our taxes. But who cares, "let them eat cake."

[mountainvue]

6. There's no way Freddie is going to buy those

loans. They wouldn't buy them before, why the hell should they buy them now?
Fannie's not going to buy them, they've already had problems.