The Federal National Mortgage Association is one of the biggest mortgage holders in the Unites States, many current mortgages are owned by them. Commonly known as Fannie Mae, it is a privately held corporation owned by stockholders. Because of the current mortgage crisis affecting property owners across the nation the Federal National Mortgage was recently put under government control.

Fannie Mae was founded by government charter in the’30’s during the Great Depression. Its mandate was to increase the credit availability for low income Americans by purchasing home loans. This was done to ensure that there was a stable supply of money for the companies responsible for issuing mortgages to borrowers.

In’68 the government changed the once public institution into a privately owned corporation under the control of a board of directors. As a government sponsored enterprise it has been criticized for its links to the government and semi public status.

In September of 2008 the collapse in the domestic housing market forced the FHFA to put Fannie Mae under federal control. Once again the organization was under the control of the the federal government.

In 2008 the total value of United States’ mortgage holdings was estimated to be about twelve trillion dollars. Fannie Mae, and its sister organization Freddie Mac, together held about half of that value. At the end of 2007 auditors reviewing the books determined that Fannie Mae had assets of more than 880 billion dollars.

Because Fannie Mae’s business was all very closely tied up in domestic mortgages and property values the financial crisis was devastating for the organization. Its stability was weakened so much by the drop in home prices that the government was forced to step in.

There had long been suspicion that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were guaranteed by the federal government and once those suspicions proved true the government assumed significant control with those institutions. That government influence is being used to implement programs to assist distressed borrowers.

If you are a borrower with a loan owned by the Federal National Mortgage Association you could qualify for government mortgage assistance.

The author has many years of experience as a loan officer and understands how people can find foreclosure assistance, often through government assistance programs