1999-09-30 Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

1999-09-30 Steven A. Holmes New York Times \Fannie Mae\Bill Clinton\2008 subprime mortgage crisis\2008 financial meltdown\US economy\Franklin D. Raines http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending "Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits." "&ldquo;Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,&rdquo; said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. &ldquo;Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.&rdquo;" In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

&ldquo;From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,&rdquo; said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. &ldquo;If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.&rdquo;

This article has been widely cited as evidence that Bill Clinton helped cause the 2008 mortgage crisis.

&ldquo;Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.&rdquo;   