Housing
More on Housing
By Jon Prior
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said the latest misstep by JPMorgan Chase which led to improper foreclosures for military families, has pushed the industry into "crisis."
By Amanda Carey
Last week, government-backed mortgage entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac fined Bank of America $3 billion for selling faulty mortgages that either have, or will default into, huge losses. Now critics are calling the deal a backdoor bailout because the sum is much lower than the losses for which the bank could be held liable.
By Peter Schroeder
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and three other House Democrats are asking the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) how it determined what two banks should pay in recent settlements over problems with residential mortgages sold to the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
On Jan. 3, Bank of America agreed to pay $2.8 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over 787,000 loans sold to them in 2008 by Countrywide Financial, which is now owned the bank.
By Alan Zibel
Four U.S. House Democrats are raising questions about whether taxpayers are getting enough compensation for bad loans sold to Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC).
The two government-controlled mortgage companies have recovered $3.3 billion for taxpayers by reaching settlements in recent weeks with Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Ally Financial Inc.
Taxpayers may have been shortchanged after a deal between failed mortgagegiants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae settled loan disputes with Bank of America Corp. for $2.8 billion rather than demanding more funds, Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) said.
Waters, a senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said the settlement "may amount to a backdoor bailout that props up the bank at the expense of taxpayers".
The lawmaker representing the cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale suggested the move may have been "both premature and a giveaway".
By Hugh Son
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae may have shortchanged taxpayers when the U.S.-owned firms settled loan disputes with Bank of America Corp. for $2.8 billion rather than demanding more funds, Representative Maxine Waters said.
"This settlement may have been both premature and a giveaway," the California Democrat said today in an e-mailed statement. The deal, announced yesterday by the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender, may "amount to a backdoor bailout that props up the bank at the expense of taxpayers."
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