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Mortgage Principal Reduction

April 10, 2012 by · Comments Off on Mortgage Principal Reduction 

Mortgage Principal Reduction, The world will only have to wait a few more weeks to find out whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will allow principal reductions on mortgages they back.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency will decide this month whether Fannie and Freddie should allow write downs on the balances of borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth, said Ed DeMarco, acting director for the agency.

Fannie and Freddie have been at the center of a tug-of-war over fixing the housing market. They have long resisted calls to write down the balances on the loans in their portfolio, saying it would be too costly for taxpayers.

But the pressure has been building, especially in the wake of the $26 billion mortgage settlement that will reduce principal for 1 million borrowers whose loans aren’t backed by Fannie and Freddie.

The agency, which regulates the government-controlled companies, had decided against allowing principal reduction after internal studies showed that alternatives such as adjusting monthly payments or forbearing principal were more cost effective.

DeMarco has said his agency is charged with protecting taxpayers’ interests, and principal reduction would amount to an expensive taxpayer bailout of troubled homeowners.

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