Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[Wise Man]

The SPS are not a loan. They are an investment in obligations, which are a compromise of repayment, so a loan.
Get it? It's called hybrid status. A debt instrument recorded as Equity.
The dividend is suspended for being Equity when FnF are undercapitalized and the obligation can be redeemed.
The risk of dividend suspension is why they get a higher coupon than other obligations (I'm talking about Preferred Stocks in general)