WASHINGTON – Freddie Mac on Wednesday reported it lost another $7.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2009, making total losses for the year of $25.7 billion.
Freddie also said a record 4% of its borrowers are at least three months behind on their payments and facing foreclosure. Its CEO, Charles Haldeman, yesterday warned of a "potential large wave of foreclosures" still to come.
During the fourth quarter, Freddie suffered $7.1 billion in credit losses and a $3.4 billion write-down in low income tax credit investments. That move "increases the likelihood" that the company will require more cash from the Treasury Department, the company warned in a regulatory filing.
Freddie and its sister secondary mortgage market giant, Fannie Mae, have been run under federal conservatorship since September of 2008. The federal government has been making up the huge shortfalls in both companies with cash assistance – a total of $111 billion so far – with no end in sight.
The two companies guarantee almost half of all residential mortgages.
