While there may be optimism that the era of big bank bailouts is over, the Fannie and Freddie bailout remains in full swing. Freddie posted a $9.9 billion loss for the first quarter yesterday and said it needed $6.1 billion more from the Treasury.
That brings Freddie's total bailout so far to $50.7 billion. And for Fannie and Freddie together, it's $84.9 billion.
As homeowners struggle more and more to keep current on their mortgages (both prime and subprime), Freddie, like Fannie, is taking losses. But in addition to that stress on its portfolio of mortgage loans, Freddie is also working with the administration to reduce foreclosures. And like Fannie, Freddie says that such efforts are likely to hurt the company's prospects for re-emerging from government control. It's also likely to cost the taxpayer even more going forward. Here's a bit from the company's quarterly filing:
These efforts are intended to help struggling homeowners and the mortgage market and may help to mitigate credit losses, but some of them are expected to have an adverse impact on our future financial results. As a result, we will, in some cases, sacrifice the objectives of reducing the need to draw funds from Treasury and returning to long-term profitability as we provide this assistance.
Because we expect many of these objectives and initiatives will result in significant costs, and the extent to which we will be compensated or receive additional support for implementation of these objectives and initiatives is unclear, there is significant uncertainty as to the ultimate impact they will have on our future capital or liquidity needs. [Emphasis added.]
Other bailout links this morning:
U.S. Eyes Bank Pay Overhaul (WSJ & NYT)
Officials Knew of AIG Bonuses Months Before Firestorm (WaPo)
AIG Trustee Aids Offshore Hedge Funds (Politico)
US Foreclosure Programme May Be Insufficient (FT)
Should the Government Subsidize Mortgage Modifications? (NYT Economix)
GM Shares Plunge on Executives' Sell-Off (WaPo)
Fiat Can Boost Chrysler Stake by Making Engines in U.S. (WSJ)
Treasury to Pick Managers for PPIP (WSJ)
