Jackbooted Thugs | Fannie And Freddie Fail On Oversight of Foreclosure Contractors, Housing Agency Report Says | Foreclosure Fraud - Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge

Jackbooted Thugs | Fannie And Freddie Fail On Oversight of Foreclosure Contractors, Housing Agency Report Says | Foreclosure Fraud - Fighting Foreclosure Fraud by Sharing the Knowledge:

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FANNIE AND FREDDIE FAIL ON OVERSIGHT OF FORECLOSURE CONTRACTORS, HOUSING AGENCY REPORT SAYS

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to keep tabs on thousands of contractors hired to manage more than 1 million foreclosed homes, possibly exposing the mortgage giants to double billing or charging for work that was never done, according to an alarming Federal Housing Finance Agency report.

Problems identified in the report, issued by the FHFA’s inspector general’s office, include “inadequate property inspections” by contractors hired to manage the day-to-day maintenance on foreclosed properties, as well as “insufficient controls to detect fraudulent reimbursement” by Fannie and Freddie.

“It is a huge failing on behalf of the mortgage giants,” said Anthony Sanders, a real estate finance professor at George Mason University. But typical behavior, he said, “of a monopolist or someone with too much market share or too much power.” (Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee about 60 percent of all mortgages in the United States, and have an even greater share of most new home loans).

The report, released Thursday, was apparently based on information turned over by the FHFA following the inspector general’s earlier finding that the regulator didn’t inspect Fannie and Freddie’s foreclosed-home program for more than three years, even as inventory stacked up at an unprecedented pace.