Replies to post #201592 on Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

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2. The Decline of Mortgage Underwriting Standards
Before the enactment of the GSE Act in 1992, and HUD’s adoption of a policy thereafter to reduce underwriting standards, the GSEs followed conservative
underwriting practices. For example, in a random review by Fannie Mae of 25,804
loans from October 1988 to January 1992, over 78 percent had LTV ratios of 80
percent or less, while only 5.75 percent had LTV ratios of 91 to 95 percent.69 High
risk lending was confined primarily to FHA (which was controlled by HUD) and
specialized subprime lenders who oft en sold the mortgages they originated to FHA.
What caused these conservative standards to decline? The Commission majority,echoing Chairman Bernanke, seems to believe that the impetus was competition
among the banks, irresponsibility among originators, and the desire for profit. The
majority’s report offers no other explanation.
However, there is no difficulty finding the source of the reductions in mortgage
underwriting standards for Fannie and Freddie, or for the originators for whom
they were the buyers. HUD made clear in numerous statements that its policy—in
order to make credit available to low-income borrowers—was specifically intended
to reduce underwriting standards. The GSE Act enabled HUD to put Fannie and
Freddie into competition with FHA, and vice versa, creating what became a contest
to lower mortgage standards. As the Fannie Mae Foundation noted in a 2000 report,
“FHA loans constituted the largest share of Countrywide’s [subprime lending]
activity, until Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac began accepting loans with higher LTVs
[loan-to-value ratios] and greater underwriting flexibilities.”

Source: p. 489, FCIC Report, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-FCIC/pdf/GPO-FCIC.pdf

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And who guarantees these traditional loans Fannie and Freddie homes anyone else!! Go FnF!!