Over the past nine months Freddie Mac has received $658 million from mortgage insurance firms to cover losses on delinquent loans, but in a recent public filing the government-sponsored enterprise revealed that if the mortgage insurance industry collapses its risk exposure would be $63.4 billion.
Eight different mortgage insurance firms have written policies on Freddie loans, with MGIC Investment Corp. and Radian Group Inc. being the two largest in terms of outstanding coverage. MGIC has $15.5 billion of coverage, while Radian has $12.1 billion.
Despite the shaky state of the housing market, not one mortgage insurer has failed, though one company, Triad Guaranty, is in self-liquidation mode.
In a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Freddie noted that it had "institutional credit risk" relating to "the potential insolvency or nonperformance of mortgage insurers" that cover its loans.
But the GSE also said that based on "currently available information" it expected all of its mortgage insurance counterparties to continue to pay claims.
The $63.4 billion figure represents the "remaining aggregate contractual limit for reimbursement of losses" of principal, Freddie said.
