I picked this up from their website.
http://www.freddiemac.com/corporate/company_profile/actions_mortgage_crisis.html... And it looks like congress sets rules for them.
About Freddie Mac
Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation established by Congress in 1970 to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the nation's residential mortgage markets. Freddie Mac raises capital on Wall Street and throughout the world's capital markets to finance mortgages for families across America. Over the years, Freddie Mac has made home possible for one in six homebuyers and more than five million renters.
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Supporting Sustainable Homeownership
Freddie Mac continues to employ policies that help families afford – and keep – their homes. Our delinquency rates are a fraction of the industry average and far below those of most other credit investors.
We're using a two-fold approach to supporting the mortgage market and managing credit and pricing for risk.
Stringent underwriting principles: We say "no" to certain lending practices that set up borrowers for failure, such as loans with too many high-risk factors.
Use of risk-based pricing so we can support a broader range of loans without taking on excessive risk.
Helping Homeowners in Financial Difficulty Avoid Foreclosure
At this critical time for the market and homeowners, we are vigorously enhancing our longstanding commitment to help Freddie Mac borrowers in financial difficulty avoid foreclosure and stay in their homes. We have a long track record of leadership in foreclosure prevention. Our best-in-class practices include:
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We support other nonprofit, government and industry efforts to assist the industry in helping homeowners in default that do not have Freddie Mac mortgages.
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