The Woes of Freddie Mac
An investigation by NPR and ProPublica finds that Freddie Mac has been betting against Americans’ ability to pay their mortgage. In 2010 and 2011, the company made huge capital gains by betting that Americans would not be able to pay their mortgage or qualify for refinancing. To make matters worse, the company made it harder for Americans to refinance their mortgages by tightening rules and restrictions on them, telling more and more homeowners they did not qualify. But Freddie Mac assures consumers that there is an “impenetrable firewall” between those making the rules and those telling homeowners that they don’t qualify to refinance. And while what the company did isn’t illegal, US legislatures have called on Freddie Mac to “end its conflict of interest” and return to protecting consumers.
Articles on this investigation can be found here and here.
