Little Annie Fannie and Freddie Kruger.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are American household names and were created decades ago to foster affordability and stability in the US housing market.

Together, they guarantee around $US6 trillion in outstanding home loans. But with 50 million mortgage customers, the two government-backed companies are weathering the lion’s shares of the subprime mortgage crisis.

So comments from a former Federal Reserve president, William Poole, that the pair might need bailing out, rocked confidence in an already troubled sector.

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