Freddie Mac

The Trump administration's plan to end the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac marked its first effort to solve a problem left over from the financial crisis, but ultimately raised more questions than it answered.

Instead of shrinking the GSEs, the housing regulator is letting them expand into a host of new products and programs.

Meet the new housing finance reform plan, same as the old ones. While that gives it legs, it also presents big challenges.

The plan would end the GSE conservatorships and create an explicit federal guarantee, but it's unclear if even other parts of the Trump administration support it.

Risk management and technology systems at the Federal Housing Administration lag decades behind Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and desperately need to be revamped, according to a top official at HUD.

The bill aimed at helping struggling homeowners also requires documentation of servicer behavior and FHFA evaluation of the services provided to borrowers.

No plan will be implemented as long as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in conservatorship, but a capital framework for the companies could still have a substantive impact.

The agency proposed new minimum capital requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would only go into effect if the government ends its conservatorships.

In the continued absence of legislation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator announced work on a new capital framework.

Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia are acknowledging the legislative efforts to end government control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dead, at least for now.