Industry trade groups as well as analysts believe the proposed waiver pilot is purely a political gesture and will, in fact, expose borrowers and lenders to financial risk.
The FHLBanks, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have a public/private structure that can incentivize private profits at public cost. Don Layton, former Freddie CEO, said the banks are ripe for reform.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accounted for 44.1% of all mortgage originations in 2023, compared with 48.6% in 2022 and more than 58% in both 2021 and 2020.
Mortgage industry stakeholders said Freddie Mac’s pilot program to alleviate repurchase requests is a better option than Fannie Mae’s new notice of potential defect.