Fannie Mae Too Big To Fail

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Too Big to Fail: The Collapse of Fannie Mae: Gern Blankston Duhon University JULY 1, 2010 Table of Contents Chapter 1 .……………………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Introduction Background ……………………………………………………………………… 4 Problem Statement ………………………………………………………………. 4 Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………………….. 4 Study Hypothesis ………………………………………………………………... 4 Chapter 2 ………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 Review of the Literature ………………………………………………………………… 5 Abstract This paper explores the sequence of events that led to the downfall of the Federal National Mortgage Association (“Fannie Mae”). It is critical that we analyze how and why such an important institution failed and whether more or less governmental regulation…show more content…
However, politicians increasingly pushed for mortgages to become available to more (less credit-worthy) Americans. And they expected Fannie Mae to hold non-conventional, bad-credit, high-risk loans to the same standards as their conventional mortgages. Naturally, this did not work and only served to drive mortgage business into the hands of private lenders. And while Fannie Mae’s underwriting standards were in place to ensure borrowers could afford their loans, many private mortgage lenders had little or no regard for their borrowers’ futures. Mortgage lenders popped up on every corner with aggressive marketing tactics like “teaser” introductory rates (that inevitably ramp up to higher rates and higher payments) and “interest-only” loans with huge balloon payments due at some point in the future. They also made it easy for practically anyone to get a mortgage, with little or low-documentation required. In effect, millions of Americans now held mortgages that they were not sophisticated enough to understand nor wealthy enough to afford. But Wall Street was packaging and selling MBSs at an unbelievable pace. And they were making a tremendous amount of money doing it. With a seemingly endless supply of buyers, they pushed lenders for more loans to package and sell. And since the upper tier homeowners had already been…show more content…
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