Mortgage Rate News

There has been plenty of partisan wrangling over the housing relief bill currently making its way sluggishly through Congress. And there has been disputes between Congress and the White House. Now, though, a solution may have been found. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may actually get the housing relief bill through weeks ahead of when it could reasonably be expected otherwise. The Los Angeles Times reports on how the recent debacle with Fannie and Freddie may influence the housing relief bill:

The mortgage initiative unveiled Sunday by the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve — which is designed to bolster confidence in home-loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — requires approval by Congress. To expedite the legislative process, it is being attached to the larger housing bill as an amendment.

And, since no one wants to be accused of holding up the Fannie-Freddie package, differences are being swept aside over the larger measure to help some homeowners threatened by foreclosure.

In an election year, with the economy and the US financial system practically in ruin, nobody wants to hold this up. The collapse of liquidity for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could bring about the complete dissolution of the mortgage industry — that’s how influential the two government chartered institutions are. And how much money goes through them.

Besides, after Ben Bernanke’s testimony before Congress this morning, legislators are probably chomping at the bit to do something that they can claim will set the economy on the road to recovery. Bernanke gave is most pessimistic speech yet, turning directly from his optimistic statements weeks ago that the worst was over for the US economy. Now he’s all about uncertainty and expressing worries that there are hurdles he didn’t foresee to economic recovery.

Tags: Ben Bernanke, Housing Relief Bill, home mortgage loan, Fannie Mae,
Freddie Mac, mortgage loan blog, economy