Fannie Mae profits push taxpayers into black on housing bailout
Friday, February 21, 2014.
By Margaret Chadbourn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fannie Mae said on Friday it would soon send the U.S. Treasury $7.2 billion, a profit-related dividend that makes taxpayers whole for the 2008 bailout of the mortgage-financing giant and its sibling company Freddie Mac. The bailout terms for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac force them to turn over their profits to the Treasury in the form of dividends on the controlling stake the government took when it bailed them out. They cannot repurchase the government's share. In announcing the payment, Fannie Mae said it posted net income of $6.5 billion for the three-month period that ended December 31.