Chermack Law

Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae is trying to “clean up its books”

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This article in the Detroit Free Press, part 1 of a 3-part series, discusses how Fannie Mae claims that it tries to keep families in their homes, while at the same time pressuring banks to foreclose. Alan White, a law professor at Valparaiso University and a leading national expert on the foreclosure crisis, is quoted in the article:

“Fannie just wants to clean up its balance sheet and get these loans off the books while taxpayers are eating these losses,” White said, referring to the multibillion-dollar federal bailout of Fannie Mae in 2008 and the rising cost to taxpayers.

“And Treasury and the FHFA are letting them get away with it. It’s a huge waste. Wealth is being destroyed, people are losing houses needlessly, and taxpayers are losing money.”

The article also cites examples of banks requesting a delay in the foreclosure process in order to allow short sales or loan modifications to occur, and Fannie Mae declining those requests and insisting that the banks proceed with foreclosure.

Fannie Mae and Minnesota Home Ownership Center Partnership

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The Minnesota Home Ownership Center and Fannie Mae have entered into a partnership “to accelerate the response time for struggling Minnesota families with loans owned by Fannie Mae.”

If your loan is owned by Fannie Mae, and you are struggling with your mortgage payments, you should contact the Minnesota Home Ownership Center ASAP.

If you are unsure about whether Fannie Mae owns your mortgage, here is a link to a blog post that explains how to find out who owns your mortgage.

Who Owns My Mortgage?

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Are you trying to figure out whether Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac owns your mortgage?

To find out if Fannie Mae owns your mortgage, go to this website.

To find out if Freddie Mac owns your mortgage, click here.

If Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac own your mortgage, that means that they are your “mortgage investor”, which is different from your “mortgage servicer”. You make your mortgage payments to your mortgage servicer. If you are struggling with making your mortgage payments and want to apply for HAMP or another loan modification, you should contact your mortgage servicer. If you don’t know who your mortgage servicer is, you can look that information up here, on the MERS website.

*** Please exercise caution when entering personal data, such as your social security number, into a website.***

Fannie Mae threatens “strategic defaulters”

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Fannie Mae recently announced that it plans to punish people who strategically default on their mortgages.  This announcement was met with skepticism by some housing and lending experts.

It’s difficult to blame Fannie Mae for being nervous about people walking away from their mortgages when strategic default is being regularly reported on in the news:

Owners Stop Paying Mortgages, And Stop Fretting.

American Dream 2: Default, Then Rent

I think that it will be difficult for Fannie Mae to decide whether someone strategically defaulted. Many people have applied for the HAMP program, only to end up in foreclosure. Foreclosures are, unfortunately, rising. See More rural, suburban Minnesotans threatened with foreclosure. See also Foreclosures Are Rising.

Fannie Mae’s threats might scare a few people from walking away from their underwater mortgages, but its threats alone will not be enough to fix our nation’s housing mess. Fannie Mae’s energy could be better spent on making sure servicers are following the Making Home Affordable program guidelines in a timely manner.