Freddie Mac requests $1.8B in aid after 2Q loss

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

54 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac is asking for $1.8 billion in additional federal aid after posting a larger loss in the second quarter.

Freddie Mac said Monday it lost $6 billion, or $1.85 per share, in the April-to-June period. The company is required to pay a 10 percent annual dividend to the Treasury Department on money it has received from the government. That made up $1.3 billion of the company's second-quarter losses.

The company lost $840 million, or 26 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.

The government rescued McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac and sibling company Fannie Mae from the brink of failure nearly two years ago. The new request means they have needed $148.2 billion to stay afloat, about $63.1 billion of which is being used by Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac is losing money from bad loans it backed, many of them before the housing market went bust. It had $118 billion in bad loans at the end of June, up from $103.4 billion at the end of last year. It owned more than 62,000 foreclosed properties in June, up from about 35,000 a year earlier.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both lost tens of billions of dollars during the past two years and both are asking the government to prop them up. Last week, Fannie Mae requested $1.5 billion after posting a loss of $3.13 billion, or 55 cents per share, in the second quarter.



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[Whoa_Nelly]

1. Have to wonder about book-cookin' when it comes to corprations such as these

Is there oversight/investigation being done? Enron finally was caught out. Will we see, hopefully under Elizabeth Warren, better oversight and investigations that will prevent this BS and economic financial drain from continuing to be allowed to happen? Seems like there has been too much of a wink and a nod when OUR money is being handed over to these corporate thieves. Is it any wonder they return for more?

[crim son]

2. I say we let the rethuglicans take this one.

I'm curious how they'd handle the request given their shrill complaints about the bank bailouts which they okayed in the first place.

[No Elephants]

3. Do the same thing with all government guaranteed loans: take them out of the hands of private

lenders. If you are not taking any risk making the loan, why in hell should you profit from making it? SBA, student loans, mortgage loans.

What the loan is for is irrelevant. If the taxpayer is bearing 100% of the risk, private parties should not be profiting.

And take a good look at the salaries and other executive comp and expenses at Fannie and Fredddie, too.