Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[Dallas66]

Letter to Government leadership.

First and foremost I want to point out that I am NOT a writer by any means....I would welcome any and all corrections, re-writes, better and more concise verbiage, logical processes, quality information, more pertinent info, pretty much anything that would be temperate and supportive...and accurate...for our overall goal of informing our political leaders we want and need the GSE's released from conservatorship.

My goal was to be accurate and deliberate, portray common sense and common needs without adding 30+ pages of dry info we know they won't read. Let them know WE know what's right.

Feel free to use, alter, re-write any and all of what I have written below. I have added links at the bottom to look up and send to our government leadership. Wouldn't hurt to send to personal home state leadership as well. This is addressed generic as each person would want to "personalize" the letter to their respective state leadership and representatives.

I am in TEXAS and have sent this to my representatives both state and federal. I fully intend to send many more as revised and updated information becomes available. Remember...Email is cheap to send.

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Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to point out a few things concerning both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from a perspective you most likely do not get the opportunity to see as often as you may like. First, I would like to tell you a little about myself so you have a better understanding of my thoughts.

I am a born and raised 61 year old middle class American. I am a Vietnam era Veteran who proudly served in the United States Navy. I am a Son, brother, husband, father, and grandfather. I am a dedicated, proud American who put myself through college to build a better life for my family. I am an American who has worked hard and invested my money in the future of our country. I am a consumer. I spend my money in my community and surrounding areas to support my local economy. I raised my children and put them through college, who have now moved on to start their own families, and are living and working and contributing to the American way of life. I am a TAXPAYER and VOTER.

This person, the one I described above, for context it is me. But this person is not just me...this person is millions of Americans throughout our great country who have worked hard and sacrificed to achieve a better way of life for ourselves, our families, the people around us, and our communities. This person spans all races, religions, and genders. This person is retired, a teacher, fireman, doctor, construction worker, lawyer, dentist, salesperson, and an accountant. This person is an engineer, IT professional, secretary, welder, government employee, police officer, painter, and landscaper. This person is a small business owner, nurse, a union member, a civil servant, and a member or our armed forces. This person is a stay at home parent, a working parent, or any of a myriad of other professional and non-professional people in all walks of life, who are trying to achieve what we call the American Dream. What we want, what we all want, is to be able to believe in our elected leadership to do the right things. For our elected leadership to do what is best for us and our families, for our country, for our way of life.

The services that both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide are a vital part of our way of life. They allow the majority of America to purchase a home to raise their families, to start their families, to grow their families. They provide much more as well. They allow us to plan for the future. They allow us to invest in the growth of America. They allow us to help one another, as an owner renting to someone just starting out, possibly with the dream of one day purchasing that home for their own future. They allow for those of us less fortunate to still hold that dream of one day owning our own home. They allow us as we grow older to purchase a possibly larger home for our growing family, or downsize to a smaller home as our children leave the nest. They allow us to sell that home to a new family just starting out, or hoping to expand their family.

I won't bore you with countless links to websites, and page after page after page of legal documents from the many, and growing number of lawsuits filed against the Treasury and FHFA over the 3rd ("net sweep" ) amendment that prohibits both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from returning to the publicly traded stockholder owned companies they have been for decades. The laws of conservatorship are quite clear and concise.

I will however point out that many of these lawsuits are backed both directly and indirectly by the very people I have mentioned above. We have invested in our 401k plans, mutual funds, individual retirement accounts, and on our own by purchasing what has always been deemed a "safe" investment backed by the government of the United States. We have invested in these two Companies because there has always been an implicit backing by our government, by the voters and taxpayers of this country. We have invested in these two companies, because they are the backbone of the American Dream, and American way of life. Even as both have come under conservatorship, our government leadership continued to imply both were, and would continue to be backed by the government, and one day returned to publicly traded companies and to the shareholders that have invested in them.

The below Q & A came directly from the FHFA's fact sheet, which was taken from the FHFA website.

Q: What are the goals of this conservatorship?

A: The purpose of appointing the Conservator is to preserve and conserve the Company’s assets and property and to put the Company in a sound and solvent condition. The goals of the conservatorship are to help restore confidence in the Company, enhance its capacity to fulfill its mission, and mitigate the systemic risk that has contributed directly to the instability in the current market.
There is no reason for concern regarding the ongoing operations of the Company.

The Company’s operation will not be impaired and business will continue without interruption.

Q: When will the conservatorship period end?

A: Upon the Director’s determination that the Conservator’s plan to restore the Company to a safe and solvent condition has been completed successfully, the Director will issue an order terminating the conservatorship. At present, there is no exact time frame that can be given as to when this conservatorship may end.

Q: What happens to the Company’s stock during the conservatorship?

A: During the conservatorship, the Company’s stock will continue to trade. However, by statute, the powers of the stockholders are suspended until the conservatorship is terminated. Stockholders will continue to retain all rights in the stock’s financial worth; as such worth is determined by the market.

Many questions have arisen as to the fault and cause of the financial meltdown. Who is to blame. Who should suffer the consequences of the Too big To Fail (TBTF) financial institutions that were bailed out by the taxpayers. I have my own personal thoughts and assumptions regarding them, as do most taxpayers. However, I will not share them here as they are most likely a bit more biased than I would like them to be. We see most of the TBTF financial institutions, as well as smaller financial entities have recovered and are back as profitable shareholder owned publicly traded companies, some of them were absorbed into others, and some are still trying to pay back what they borrowed from the government. We see some have returned to the private sector with no further, or minimal government intervention. We see ALL have been reformed to some extent (new rules and regulations) to prevent a future meltdown. We see ALL of the publicly traded and shareholder owned entities...with the exception of the GSE's, have been allowed to continue as ongoing viable and profitable publicly traded companies.

We also see that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid back more than what they received from the taxpayers, both have paid back in excess of 10% above what was initially borrowed.

As of Jan 23, 2015

Fannie Mae - Total Borrowed - $116,149,000,000
Fannie Mae - Total Repaid - $134,435,000,000

Taxpayer Profit - $18,286,000,000 - over 15% of borrowed value returned to taxpayers.

Freddie Mac - Total Borrowed - $71,336,000,000
Freddie Mac - Total Repaid - $90,969,000,000

Taxpayer Profit - $19,633,000,000 - over 27% of borrowed value returned to taxpayers.


We continually hear about winding down the GSE's. We hear about reform of the financial models that put this country in a catastrophic meltdown. We hear about the length of time it will take to remodel and reform these policies and regulations to better prevent another financial catastrophe.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we currently have two companies that have the technology, expertise, and ability to lead, demonstrate, and move forward with the control processes and procedures needed to prevent another financial crisis in the housing industry, and financial world as well. We need our elected leadership to put aside bipartisan differences and work together to utilize the GSE's ability to maintain and grow the fundamental backbone of America...home ownership.

I would like to make a few suggestion if I may.

1. Continue to REMODEL the GSE's to better contribute and support the housing market. Do not wind them down, rather remold them and utilize their expertise to stabilize and maintain a financial structure of home ownership this country needs.

2. Work WITHIN the GSE's to bring private capital to the table to support housing finance. Possibly an agreement for private capital to take the first 10% - 15% of risk with a reasonable and acceptable down payment by the purchaser.

3. Formulate through and within the GSE's an insurance that homebuyers contribute to, that will help to balance and create an acceptable safeguard for the financial risk of the lenders.

4. Release the GSE's from conservatorship. Allow the hundreds of thousands of tax paying voters and investors the opportunity to continue to grow their retirements and savings, and continue to invest in this great nation of ours. Allow us to continue supporting and investing in the American Dream.


Thank you for your consideration

Sincerely

A veteran
A taxpayer and voter
An American
<your name here>

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To contact your states Federal leadership

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/