Fannie, Freddie writedowns too costly: regulator

No principal writedowns. I'm tired of paying my neighbors mortgage. Expedite forclosures and clean up this mess.

Why are people talking about write-downs as if the money comes from nowhere? I pay taxes every year, don't have an underwater mortgage and don't wish to pay someone else's mortgage by paying more taxes than I already do. I guess that makes me a bad guy. ...or a Republican or an uncaring conservative. How about just thinking of me as a guy who pays his bills and meets his comittments. There are lots of us out here and we are opposed to mortgage write-downs.

How more stupid this could get, they want to reduce mortgage principal for some and others who play by rules should pay the difference ????? Can somebody explain how this will a help economy ????
$ 100 billions will be missed somewhere.......... and were scratching our head and wondering why Asia leave us in dust from economy standpoint. Every loser in this country is taken care a much more then hard working individuals.....

The government has no business writing mortgages through quasi-government agencies. Shut them both down. Mortgages should be written by banks, and banks should eat the losses when borrowers default. That's capitalism.

We should add another line to the 1040 for Freddie and Fannie bailout fund. This is why no one wants to pay more taxes - the government is not held accountable for the way they have wasted our money over the past decade. Yes, it is a spending problem, not a revenue problem

Thomas Jefferson-
" We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt."

Henry Ford -
“It is well enough that the people do not understand banking or the monetary system, for if they did there would be revolution before tomorrow morning."

Patrick Henry-
“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to RESTRAIN THE GOVERNMENT - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."

The 'moral hazzard' was the banksters and derivatives bailouts. All the failed and corrupted institutions should have been allowed to fail. That is capitalism.

Why do Fannie and Freddie have so many bad loans on their books? Because of Congress and the Federal government. Not too many years ago, in an effort to provide home buying power to minorities, the government, Fannie and Freddie decided that banks weren't writing loans for poorer people, especially in so called ghetto communities. It was called red lining and no consideration was given to the banker's decisions not to offer loans to individuals who had poor credit histories, insufficent incomes or inadequate down payments. So the banks were forced to write loans that they knew would go into default. Being intelligent businessmen, they turned around and sold the bundles of loans to Fannie and Freddie. Perhaps all of the overpaid legislators that forced this onto the bankers, along with the multimillionare principals of Fannie and Freddie should dip into their own bloated wallets and cover some of the shortfall that they created. Then too, the legislators that blocked Senator McCain's efforts to clean up Fannie and Freddie, should chip in just as much as well.

The goverment should teach responsibility. Home loans should be treated like student loans. Modifications can be made but you will still have to pay back the original balance. See how many people will get a equity loan for a new boat if you were obligated to your loan. when you go into the bank and sign your name to the loan it is your obligation to pay and live within your means. It's not the banks fault for loaning you the money. It's your fault and you should have to be an adult and live with the actions that you have made for yourself. It's called responsibility and character alot of adults have lost that idea today. If you go into a bank and lie on a loan and the bank lost 100k you will only have bad credit for 7 years. You go into a bank with a gun and rob them of 100k you get 7 years in prison. Why shouldn't the borrower who lied on his loan not face any prison time?

Here are some facts: Fannie and Freddie were entirely PRIVATE corporations before being placed into conservatorship in 2008 by Paulson, Lawson, Bernanke, and Bush (all GOP). There was NO implicit or explicit guarantee that the American taxpayers would back these private entities.
At the time of the takeover, neither company was in crisis. They were placed under conservatorship under the notion that 'they might suffer losses in the future'. At the time, their losses were only $14.9 billion. Nonetheless, Bush raised the debt ceiling to $10.7 and stated that it was committed to spending $200 billion on F and F alone.
F and F were much hated by the GOP and the bankster lobbyists in the decades prior to the takeover. I think that this was a 'private equity type takeover', engineered by the enemies of Fannie and Freddie, the GOP and their buddy banksters.
Fannie and Freddie entered the subprime market late in the bubble; they did not cause it, as is constantly claimed by the Right. They control about 50% of all mortgages, but their holdings of toxic loans were lower by percentage than the other major banksters.

Recently, new fees were diverted away from F and F to pay for the SS tax holiday for 2 months. Experts say this makes the mortgage giants less likely to be able to pay back the loans they received from us, the taxpayers and eventually move out of conservatorship.

The other banksters were offered TARP. We found out recently that the Fed bought over $900 billion in toxic loans from the banksters in the two years just prior to March 2009, also under Bush. Guess who now owns all these toxic loans? Recently the Fed said they would consider buying another $545 billion in toxic loans. I cannot help but wonder whether they are doing this in secret.
Most of the banksters initially refused to write down their loans publically as they would then be known to be INSOLVENT. Instead, in the early months of 2009, they were allowed to report these toxic holdings at 'normal market values'; they were allowed to cook their books. Since then, the Fed has continued to feed money into the big banks, and they are still TOXIC (See programs like Q1 and Q2.).
The Right would like to distract you into thinking this is all about Fannie and Freddie. Do not be fooled.
Since Fannie and Freddie are now partly owned by the US taxpayers, they are the only entities that could be forced to write down their loans. Some think that this is the only way to stabilize the mortgage market. I disagree. Home prices must continue to fall until they reach a level where an average Middle Class worker can afford them. This means they must fall at least 30% more.
It is my belief that all the corrupted banks and other financials should have been, and should now be, allowed to fail. They are draining all our resources and our children's futures.

Fannie and Freddie do not need a regulator -- they need a liquidator.

Instead of writing down the amount owed, just lower the interest rates and remove the requirement that the house be worth more than the mortgage.
- Do not allow cash-out refinancing.
- Only refinance for primary residents in which the borrower lives in the house
- Only refinance for people that can qualify for the new payments.
- Do no-cost refinancing option, and have a penalty clause if they default or sell the house within a year.

NO MORE BAIL OUTS!!!
If you signed the papers, only you are responsible.
Do not come to the Tax Payers for a BAIL OUT!!!

Let's all stop paying our mortgages. Those who have money re-fi and then default like the rest of them. This is a game being played on the middleclass. Not everyone is entitled to homeowneship - only those who have succeeded in increasing their standard of living through HARD WORK something our politiciams know nothing about.

NOT TOO BIG TO FAIL. NO BAIL OUT.

What a great idea, lets reward people who don't service their loans by reducing their principle. On the other hand, people who barrowed what they could afford or who are making the necessary sacrifices to meet their obligations get nothing.

How many mortgages should I pay besides my own? No More!

As if Fannie and Freddie haven't cost the taxpayers billions already.

Manny,

Housing is well understood, and those who understand it know that government needs to get the F out of it.

Principal reduction: Where the 5-bedroom McMansion inhabited by the profligate will be paid for the prudent who bought a 2-bedroom condo.