Question:

Who are Fannie - Federal Mortgage Agency (FNMA)?

Answer:

The "Fannie Federal Mortgage Agency" is the biggest US provider of home mortgage financing. Actually, Fannie Mae is a nickname for the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA).

Fannie Mae is a privately owned agency, chartered by Congress. They buy and sell home loans on the secondary market. Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, is a government sponsored enterprise (GSE).

The FNMA makes money by charging a fee for guaranteeing that the home loans it securitized will be repaid.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938 as a government mortgage agency. It was the monopolist on the secondary market in the US until 1968, when it was made private and Ginnie Mae, the Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA) was founded.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, another government entity, set the yearly home loan limits in the U.S. Any mortgage loans exceeding conforming mortgage limits (that is, the limits set by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) cost more to the consumer and borrowers are simply discouraged from obtaining non-conforming loans.

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Common misspellings: mortage and morgage