Federal National Mortgage Association

The Federal National Mortgage Association, known in popular slang as "Fannie Mae" is a corporation created in 1938 with federal sponsorship which has been wholly private since 1970. Its purpose is to establish a secondary market for mortgages that are insured under the provisions of the Federal Housing Administration.

Fannie Mae functions by buying and pooling mortgages and then selling them as mortgage-backed securities. These securities are made available to investors on the open market thus increasing the supply of money available to be loaned for the purchase of new homes.

The Fannie Mae Corporation has proved to be consistently profitable and does not receive funding or direct backing from the United States government. The restrictions placed upon its operations are somewhat looser than those with which other financial institutions must cope.

Countrywide Financial, the second largest originator of mortgages in the U.S. has an almost exclusive partnership with Fannie Mae.

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