"An email obtained by The Associated Press that was sent by the Federal Housing Finance Agency to top officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac eliminated caps that prohibited the lenders from each holding more than $40 billion in mortgage bonds. The Jan. 12 email says that "effective immediately" the new amount of mortgage bonds that they could hold in their portfolios was raised to $225 billion apiece."
"If the mortgage buyers were to act on the full extent of this new authority, that would amount to a roughly $170 billion increase in bond purchases over what the president instructed them to buy. Neither Pulte nor the FHFA addressed questions about whether Trump or Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was consulted before the increase was enacted."
""FHFA simply gave each entity legal flexibility to go beyond their previous caps," Pulte wrote Friday, adding that despite the lenders' new bond purchasing authority, they would not "exceed $200 billion.""
Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, granted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac authority to hold up to $225 billion each in mortgage bonds, removing prior $40 billion caps. The Jan. 12 email made the change effective immediately. Full use of the authority could raise bond purchases by roughly $170 billion above the president's instruction. Neither Pulte nor the FHFA answered whether the president or Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were consulted. The change reverses long-standing post-2008 limits established after the financial crisis. Pulte later stated the move provided legal flexibility and would not exceed $200 billion.
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