Freddie Mac is the name of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation. It is regulated by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and also by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development which has authority over them for fair housing. They also help create mortgage properties for low-income and middle-class buyers.  They work to provide affordable housing options, and Freddie Mac foreclosures have been suspended recently to ensure that struggling homeowners can stay in their homes.

They are a government-sponsored enterprise that works to stabilize US residential mortgage markets, expand home ownership programs, and ensure there is a supply of affordable rental housing as well.  They are a shareholder-owned business which was created by Congress to work for the public.

Freddie Mac has two areas in which they do their work: One is the Credit guaranty business they have, that buys residential mortgages and securities in the secondary markets. They securitize them and sell them to investors as mortgage-backed securities.

The second area is a portfolio investment business, where they buy mortgages for their mortgage portfolios for investment.

This company buys loans from lenders enabling the lenders to lend out more money to buyers. They are important to our nation in their work to help the mortgage crisis by: keeping mortgage rates at a lower rate, making the mortgage markets liquid for the lenders, and helping to prevent foreclosures. They have a “Making Home Affordable” program under President Obama that helps keep struggling borrowers from losing their residences by lowering their payments.

They do this a number of ways. They keep the mortgage rates low, reduce mortgage origination fees, and create mortgage products for low and moderate-income families. They hold 9% of the currently foreclosed on houses in the US, but they are doing their best to help families stay in them. They do this through loan modification programs, or work out options through their programs or the “Make Home Affordable” programs.

Freddie Mac foreclosures are a way that people can stay in their homes. They have stopped evictions from foreclosed homes, and they are allowing borrowers to stay in their homes by paying rent each month.

Freddie Mac has been in the news a lot lately along with Fannie Mae as being in need of expensive bailouts. They have continued aid to home owners and education of prospective buyers remains on their agenda. Find more information on their website.