U.S. Revises Payment Terms for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac
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The U.S. Treasury Department is altering how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay taxpayers for the government’s stake in the firms, ending a system that sometimes required them to spend more on dividends than they earned.
The mortgage companies, which have drawn $190 billion in aid and paid $46 billion in dividends since being taken over by U.S. regulators in 2008, will turn over any quarterly profits to the Treasury, the agency said today. The change replaces a requirement that the companies pay quarterly dividends of 10 percent on the government’s nearly 80 percent stake.